Darkness Falls
by The Silent Scream
Summary: They've successfully faced vampires, demons, insanity and amnesia, but when a new threat comes up in Sunnydale, the gang might end up in trouble, facing something bigger than ever before. Willow / OC, rated for violence and a certain demon's dirty mouth.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is the fourth fic in some sort of series-thingy I started (more or less on accident, it all began with one fic I wrote just for fun, hehe). The previous parts can be found in my profile, but it's not really necessary to have read them to understand what is going on here. I've taken quite the liberties with the BtVS timeline though, basically ignoring season 7 and the comic. Feedback is highly appreciated!

Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer used in this fic are not mine, I'm just borrowing them for a while. Any original characters sprang from my (at times weird) mind. I'm not making any money with this, and I don't have much money either, so please don't sue me. :)

* * *

Darkness Falls

The Magic Box had been closed down for the day, but was far from as quiet as it should be after business hours; from the backroom, the sounds of fighting could be heard, with the occasional grunt or curse when a hit landed particularly well. Anyone who wasn't a member of the close circle called the Scoobie Gang surely would have thought that the fight was for real, that the two women who were battling it out in the backroom of the store were serious about it; it probably would have made that innocent bystander wonder why the third woman in the room was just watching with a small smile on her face, clearly neither frightened nor worried – after all, she was a member of that close circle of friends, and thus knew that it was just sparring, no matter how serious it looked.

As always when she watched the taller of the two women fight, a certain tingling started to fill her, but she forced it back down, telling herself that this could wait until they were back home; focusing on the fight again, she watched how Buffy, the smaller of the two fighters, easily caught the fist of her opponent, then used the grip she thus had to throw the other woman over her shoulder, a low grunt escaping the taller one when she hit the ground.

"Careful", Willow now called out, shaking her head to herself at how far those two always took their sparring, "don't break my girlfriend…"

"She's not that fragile", Buffy gave back, moving a few steps back when, as if to prove the Slayer's words, Pat sprang to her feet again, barely managing to dodge the kick the blonde woman attacked her with seconds later. They went on fighting for a few more minutes, then Buffy called it quits, deciding that they had sparred long enough; immediately, Pat let herself drop down on the soft training mat on the ground, the Slayer sitting down next to her while Willow moved over to the two and made herself comfortable next to her girlfriend, smiling when immediately, the taller woman put an arm around her.

"Think Giles would be satisfied with that training?" she asked, focusing on Buffy; at once, the Slayer nodded, letting out a heavy breath before she answered verbally as well, sounding surprisingly fit despite the lengthy training she just had gone through. "For sure… So far, he always was, and today, I held back a bit less than usual…"

"I noticed", Pat commented dryly next to her, causing the Slayer to give her an apologetic smirk – before she shrugged, a mischief glint in her eyes as she replied. "Well, it's not like you went easy on me, either. Plus, I don't really need to be afraid of hurting you, unlike Giles, you can heal a lot in that demonic form of yours… Which is why he suggested that I'd train with you in the first place."

"I know", the demon gave back, "and it makes sense, but to be honest with you, I fear the day you'll decide not to hold back anymore at all."

"That'll never happen", Buffy reassured her, then got up from her seat; the other two women followed her example moments later, both of them nodding when the Slayer asked if they'd be there for the Scoobie meeting in the next afternoon while they made their way outside.

"See you tomorrow then", she smiled once they had both agreed, wishing the couple a nice evening; afterwards, they parted ways, the Slayer making her way back to her home while Willow and Pat returned to their apartment as well, walking next to each other in silence for a while until the redhead spoke up, immediately gaining the attention of her girlfriend. "Did Buffy talk to you about patrol, too? It's been strangely quiet lately…"

"Yeah", the demon agreed, falling silent afterwards to light a cigarette – not bothering with the lighter this time, but using the tip of her finger since no one but Willow was around to see, taking a long drag of it before she spoke on. "I noticed, too, when I went on patrol with her… It's weird. But the few vampires we did encounter were kinda… wild."

"Wilder than usual?", the witch asked in response, slightly surprised – this had been something Buffy hadn't mentioned to her when she had talked about the surprising lack of vampires lately.

"Yeah", the demon shrugged, obviously not putting much thought into the subject of wilder vampires, "at least it seemed that way to me. On the other hand, maybe I'm getting old after all and imagine it, Buffy didn't say anything about it…"

"She didn't mention it to me either", Willow informed her girlfriend helpfully, "but I doubt you're getting old… You still look as handsome as you did the day we met."

"Why thank you", the demon smirked in reply, stopping briefly so she could kiss her girlfriend, speaking on once they had pulled apart again, "and I can reassure you that you're just as beautiful as you were when I first saw you…"

"Thanks", Willow smiled in reply, successfully ignoring the fact that, when Pat had first seen her, all of her moves towards her had been a mere act to get close to her; by now, enough time had passed and they had gone through enough together to reassure the witch countless times that the demon's love for her was as real as it could get, making it easy for her to forget the betrayal she had faced so early in their relationship.

"You'll go on patrol with Buffy again tonight?" the redhead asked after they just had walked on in silence for a while; in reply, Pat shook her head, smirking at the slightly surprised look Willow gave her in reply.

"I've been on patrol the last three nights with her", she pointed out, "tonight, Xander's going with her, I believe… I told her I'm in dire need of a cuddly evening with my girl."

In response, Willow's eyes lit up, the sight making Pat's smile widen as well; they stopped once more to share another short kiss, then headed on towards their apartment, both of them now looking forward to a quiet and calm evening, something they hadn't been able to enjoy in quite some time.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do we really have to watch this?" Pat demanded to know two hours later, grimacing; next to her, Willow nodded, not even looking at her, her gaze focused on the TV and on the gruesome programme it was showing, something about open heart surgery, the show providing its – few, Pat was sure of that – viewers with gruesome details.

"That's gross", she added when yet another close-up on the pulsating muscle was shown, grimacing; next to her, the redhead giggled, finally looking at her, raising an eyebrow as she gave her loved one a curious look.

"You're a demon, and you've been an assassin for two hundred years or so", she pointed out, shaking her head before she went on. "How can you be grossed out by that?"

"You know, the point of being an assassin is to kill the victim quick and without making much of a mess", Pat informed her in reply, grimacing when yet another gruesome sight came up on the TV screen. "So I never had the… pleasure… to see those parts of the human anatomy."

"How did you do it?" Willow demanded to know in reply, surprising the demon slightly – even though they had been together for almost two years now, she never had inquired about this before, usually preferring it to ignore the bloody past of her loved one.

"Are you sure you want to know about this?" she thus inquired, surprised when Willow nodded; after taking a moment to sort her thoughts, she shrugged, running one hand through her hair as she finally spoke up again. "Well… It depended on the job, I guess… My preferred method was to strangle them from behind, with piano wire sometimes, or just with my hands in case I didn't have time to get any. Sometimes I also used weapons, you know, a crossbow, a dagger, or made it look like an accident or suicide… Why are you asking?"

"Just curious", Willow shrugged in reply, "it is part of your life after all… Or was… Has been for a very long time, I mean, two centuries is quite long, right? And as your girlfriend, I probably should know about it, even though it makes me as queasy to my tummy as yours gets when you watch those shows with me… And I'm babbling again, right?" she finished, frowning; chuckling, Pat nodded, smirking at the redhead when she received a dismayed glance in response to her laughter.

"You're supposed to stop me when I do that", Willow pointed out, the demon shrugging in reply, moving up one hand to caress her hair tenderly.

"You're cute when you babble", she then gave back, earning another raised eyebrow – before Willow clearly decided to accept it without question, since she shrugged and snuggled closer to her girlfriend again, her gaze focusing on the TV once more.

"Is this over soon?" Pat demanded to know next to her, making her giggle in reply, her eyes returning to the demon, just in time to miss yet another awfully detailed close-up on the beating heart.

"For a demon, you have a really weak stomach", she teased, not managing to bother her girlfriend much though, as the taller woman just shrugged in reply, pointedly not looking at the TV while she replied. "I haven't been a demon my whole life, mind you… Plus, being a demon doesn't automatically mean that I like all kinds of gross stuff."

"Usually, they do", Willow found it necessary to point out, "just ask Anya."

"I'd rather not", Pat grimaced in reply, to the witch's amusement, "she'd probably go into excessive detail about what kind of gross stuff they like exactly…"

"Yeah", Willow giggled in response, then finally relieved her loved one of her troubles by grabbing the remote and changing the channel; soon, they had found something they both would be able to watch without risking nausea, the redhead snuggling closer to the taller woman beside her as soon as they had decided on a show and making herself comfortable in the tender embrace, a small smile on her face as she once more enjoyed it to be so close to the woman she loved.

* * *

"Whoa, I know what you meant now!" Willow called out almost twenty-four hours later, on the cemetery, barely managing to duck as a vampire threw a rather powerful punch at her; focusing the best she could at those circumstances, she brought up her hand, the blast of power which erupted from her fingers sending the vampire backwards and into the waiting arms of her girlfriend, the taller woman embracing him with a slightly malicious smirk on her face – before she burst into flames, the creature in her arms letting out a howl as the fire burnt him.

"Good teamwork", Buffy called out to them, staking the second vampire of the night; this left two more of the creatures, the bloodsuckers seeming reluctant to attack though, standing next to each other and baring their fangs at the three women, not making any moves though.

"What's the problem?" the Slayer teased, twirling her stake rather artistically in one hand, "think you can't take on three little girls? Come on, two such big and strong guys as you…"

The two vampires exchanged another unsure look in reply, then suddenly seemed to make their decision as they clenched their fists; moments later, they both attacked the Slayer, clearly planning to take her out first and to focus on Pat and Willow afterwards. If the two had been regular humans, this might have been a good plan; since the vampires were turning their backs on a witch and a demon though, they quickly learned that this had been a mistake, said demon making this clear to them by grabbing one of them and jerking him away from the Slayer, spinning him around so he was facing her before she landed a punch straight into his face, hard enough to send him a few steps back.

Snarling, the vampire threw himself forward again, letting out low growl noises as he tried to land several kicks and punches; once more, Willow saw that her loved one had been right when she had talked about the vampires being wilder than usual, the redhead wincing to herself when she saw the bloodsucker land a punch, Pat letting out a low growl in reply before she returned the favour, once more sending the vampire a few steps back.

Apparently having enough now of fighting, the demon brought out the stake she had taken along; to her great dismay, the vampire managed to dodge her stab though, causing her to let out another grumble before she dropped down on one knee and kicked his legs out from beneath him, making him fall to the ground with a heavy thud. Within the blink of an eye, she was on top of him, straddling him and bringing up the stake once more; as she slammed it down though to ram it into his chest, the vampire suddenly grabbed her arm with one hand and the dull end of the stake with the other at the last second possible, Pat's eyes going wide when he used the momentum of her attack to twist her arm, snarling as he rammed the stake forward and into the soft flesh of her abdomen, Willow letting out a startled cry at the sight.

For a few moments, Pat just stared down at the stake which now protruded from her stomach; then, her eyes flashed up red and with a shockingly loud growl, she grabbed the vampire's head, startling Willow again a second later by simply tearing it off, the creature turning into dust beneath her a second later, causing her to slump to the ground, grimacing when this sent fresh pain from the wound through her body.

Behind her, Buffy dusted the remaining last vampire as well, then turned to look at her friends; obviously, she hadn't noticed what had happened to Pat, since her eyes went wide as she saw the stake, the demon gritting her teeth in pain now as the shock was fading away and she felt the wound fully.

"If it calms you down, that happened to me as well, once", the Slayer finally found her voice again, moving over to her friend; she took a moment to give Pat an apologetic glance, then grabbed the stake and pulled it out, the demon letting out a rather loud yelp, a pain-filled groan following afterwards as she forced herself to her feet, both Buffy and Willow standing back wisely, knowing what she was up to.

Even though Willow knew by now that her loved one could heal such wounds easily in her demonic form, it still made her uneasy to see the blood drip out of the hole in her shirt; moments later though, flames were obscuring the view as her loved one demoned out, a low grumble coming from her as she waited for the wound to heal, returning to her human form the moment this had happened.

"Much better", she then commented, the hole in her shirt now showing nothing but unharmed skin, "but he ruined my shirt… Dammit, I liked that one."

By now, Willow had given up on telling her that this was silly and that the only thing which mattered was that she was alright; thus, she just rolled her eyes before she smiled and stepped closer to her girlfriend again, embracing her tenderly, the taller woman smiling as well while she returned the hug at once.

"I'll go shopping with you tomorrow for a new one", the witch offered after the couple had shared a tender kiss, "I only have classes in the morning, so we can go in the afternoon, if you like."

"Sounds like a plan", Pat smirked, then gave Buffy a questioning look, the Slayer obviously getting her wrong though as she immediately shook her head.

"Oh, no, I can't come along, I got classes in the afternoon", she stated, causing the demon to raise an eyebrow – before she chuckled and shook her head, gesturing at the cemetery around them afterwards.

"I wanted to know if we're done with the patrol", she clarified, causing the blonde to clear her throat in embarrassment, Willow turning to look at her as well, a smirk curling her lips.

"I guess we are", Buffy stated after looking around for a moment, making sure no more vampires would pop out of their graves, a curious look appearing on her face moments later as she focused on Willow. "What did you mean when you said you knew what Pat meant now?"

"You didn't notice?" the redhead gave back, sounding as surprised as the demon behind her was looking. "The vampires are much wilder lately. You really didn't notice?"

"No", the Slayer shrugged, "not really so far. But now that you mention it, yeah, they do seem a bit on the wild side lately. Maybe they're getting cranky because they always end up dusted right after rising from their graves."

"Probably", Pat agreed, celebrating the ending of tonight's patrol by lighting up a cigarette; afterwards, the trio left the graveyard and headed back to their homes, all of them eager to get some rest now that their nightly duty had been fulfilled.


	3. Chapter 3

"You know, you were a bit on the wild side tonight, too", Willow stated once the couple had returned to the apartment, leaning against the kitchen counter and watching how Pat was going through the fridge, her stomach grumbling so loud that she could hear it all the way to where she was standing. "I've never seen you rip off a vampire's head before."

In response, the demon paused for a moment, then turned to look at her loved one, a surprised expression on her face which quickly turned into a frown. "You know, now that you said that, I don't think I ever did that before. I'm actually a bit surprised I had the strength."

"You ripped out a demon's heart once", Willow pointed out in reply, "so you shouldn't be that surprised, at least not about the strength part. I have to admit it was a bit startling though to see you do that, I mean, when you tore out that demon's heart, you were amnesiac and evil."

"Well", Pat smirked after a moment, turning back to the fridge and finally finding everything she wanted on her sandwich, "he did piss me off mightily by stabbing me with my own stake, and not just because he ruined my shirt. It was stupid of me to let that happen, and it hurt really bad, you know?"

"I imagine", Willow grimaced in reply, moving aside so her girlfriend had room to prepare her snack, "it's a good thing you can heal, but it's still unsettling to watch you getting hurt, even with that knowledge…"

"There's not much I wouldn't be able to heal", the demon shrugged, taking a big bite of her sandwich afterwards, to the redhead's relief taking the time to chew and swallow before she spoke on, moving closer to Willow so she could put an arm around her waist. "So you don't need to worry…"

"Do you know how much you can heal?" the witch demanded to know in reply, all at once highly interested to find out about this, momentarily surprised about the fact that so far, they hadn't spoken about it.

"Not really", Pat shrugged in reply, smirking down on the smaller woman, "but I guess it'd have to be rather drastic, I've survived quite a lot so far, I'm hard to kill. Maybe cutting off my head would work."

"Let's hope no one ever does that then", Willow shuddered in reply, her voice soft, but serious as she spoke on. "I wouldn't be able to take it if I lost you…"

"Hey, don't talk like that", the demon gave back, a bit startled at this sudden turn of the mood, "you won't lose me… I'm not planning to let anyone cut my head off anytime soon."

"Good", Willow smiled in reply, the taller woman glad to see that the moment of seriousness apparently had passed, "and I'm sorry for bringing this up now, I have no idea where that came from… I guess I'm still upset from that horrible sight of a vampire staking you, instead the other way round."

"I prefer the other way round too, trust me", the demon chuckled, then kept the redhead from saying anything else by kissing her tenderly; with a small sigh, Willow responded to the kiss, wrapping both arms around the taller woman, all dark thoughts forgotten as the kiss deepened and her love for the demon filled her mind and her soul once more.

* * *

In the next afternoon, the couple went shopping for a new shirt, as Willow had suggested; the fact that she only wore black and dark red clothing made it easy to find several, the demon taking the chance given and buying a pair of pants and a pack of socks as well while Willow chose several tops for herself as well, both of them armed with plastic bags by the time they finally left the store.

Before she had met Buffy, the redhead never had been into shopping very much, only going to the stores when she really needed something new and hardly ever spending time to browse, usually just rushing in, buying the first outfit which looked good and leaving again; ever since she had met the Slayer though, their friendship making her life much more exciting and dangerous, she enjoyed those small, normal things in life, as she did now, strolling down the shopping street with her girlfriend.

Then, she remembered that most people wouldn't call said girlfriend "normal", the thought making her giggle; next to her, Pat threw her a curious look, automatically smiling as well at the sound of the witch's laughter.

"What's so funny?" she demanded to know, making Willow look up at her and shrug, a smile on her face as well as she responded. "I was just thinking about how being friends with Buffy made me appreciate such small, normal things more… Like going shopping and just strolling around with my girlfriend. And then I realized that you aren't exactly normal."

"Being normal is boring, anyway", the demon chuckled, only to fall silent when Willow rose an eyebrow at her.

"Are you trying to tell me I'm boring?" she then demanded to know, holding back the smile which wanted to curl her lips again when at once, her girlfriend shook her head frantically, obviously taking her seriously, something the redhead hadn't intended to happen – normally, Pat could tell when she was being teased and when she really was in trouble. "No, of course not, but you're not exactly normal either, you know?"

In response, Willow let her second eyebrow wander upwards as well, making the demon gulp as she realized that maybe, this hadn't been the smartest thing to say. "In a good way of course, I mean… What with you being a witch and everything… Please tell me I'm not talking myself out of bed and on the couch right now?"

"No you're not", Willow reassured her, her self-control finally fading and a giggle escaping her. "In fact, you're not in trouble at all, I was just teasing you. I'm surprised you didn't notice this time, you do usually."

"Well, you sounded awfully serious", the demon shrugged in response, obviously relieved that she wasn't in trouble after all. "For a moment there, I really thought I made you mad."

"You didn't", the redhead reassured her, giving her hand a tender squeeze and smiling up at her, "no worries. After all those compliments you made me in the store, you'd have to work really hard to make me mad at you, anyway."

"Tell me when that wears off", the demon chuckled in reply, making the witch giggle as well while she nodded; moments later, her giggle got cut off though as a rather unobservant guy bumped into her, hard enough to make her stumble, the demon's arm immediately shooting out and steadying her before she could end up in danger of falling though.

"Hey!" Pat snapped as soon as she had made sure that Willow wouldn't end up on the ground, "watch where you're going, numbskull!"

To the witch's shock, she moved her arm from her waist and grabbed the guy's collar; even for someone as protective as Pat, this was a rather harsh reaction, the man apparently freaked out as well since for a few moments, he just stared at the black haired woman, sounding startled when he finally spoke up. "Whoa, I'm sorry, I just wasn't paying attention, okay?"

"Pat", Willow hurriedly threw in before the demon had a chance to say something, the expression on her face alarming the witch, "Sweetie, it's alright, nothing happened… Let go of him, please, for me?"

"Your girlfriend might want to work on her temper", the guy grumbled as soon as the taller woman had done what Willow had asked; the glare Pat gave him in reply was enough to shut him up and to make him walk off as fast as he could without actually running.

"What was that about?" Willow demanded to know as soon as he was out of earshot, giving her girlfriend a look which somehow managed to be both worried and slightly annoyed. "He just bumped into me Pat, not even on purpose, but for a moment I thought you'd punch him! This must be a new height of your I-need-to-protect-Willow-level."

"I… I'm not sure", the demon gave back, sounding slightly surprised as well, causing Willow to give her a rather startled look.

"You're right", Pat went on, getting out her cigarettes and lighting one of them up, using the Zippo lighter Willow had given her as a present a while ago now that they were in public and unsuspecting bystanders might see her little fire trick, taking a long drag of the cancer stick afterwards, making it clear to the redhead that she was quite upset about this as well. "I wanted to punch him… If you hadn't stopped me, I would have."

Shaking her head as if to clear it, she ran one hand through her hair; Willow gave her a concerned look, her annoyance about the taller woman's behaviour forced aside by the worry Pat's reaction to all of this caused to well up within her.

"Seems I need to work on my self-control again", the demon muttered after a moment, taking another drag of her cigarette; next to her, the witch nodded, giving her a reassuring smile afterwards to show her that everything was fine and that she wasn't annoyed about her behaviour anymore, the black haired woman returning the smile after a few moments, forcing her confusion about what had happened aside and telling herself that everything was fine, ignoring the tiny voice in the back of her mind which kept whispering that something much more drastic than just a case of exceptionally bad temper was going on.


	4. Chapter 4

During the next few days, the temper of the demon seemed to grow continually worse, to the concern of Willow and everyone else around her; she never acted harshly towards her loved one, but apart from that, the smallest things were enough to anger her, until it got bad enough to frighten everyone of the gang, all of them meeting up in Giles' apartment to discuss this when it became clear that it hadn't just been a one time thing that had caused Pat to react so strongly to minor annoyances.

"Have you experienced this before?" the Watcher asked once they all had made themselves comfortable, looking at the demon over the rim of his glasses; shaking her head, Pat gave him a helpless look, clearly unnerved by her own bad temper. "No, never, not in all two hundred and thirty nine years… I know that I sometimes have troubles with being short-tempered, but it's never been like this before!"

As if to demonstrate how short her temper had gotten lately, she slammed her fist down on the table at the last word, making everyone else jump; this brought her back to her calmer self, and she cleared her throat, embarrassed, before she looked at the Watcher again. "See what I mean?"

"Yes, quite clearly", Giles gave back, eying his table where a crack had appeared in the wood, "so please don't demonstrate again, I don't think the table will survive another hit."

"Sorry", the demon muttered, shuffling her feet; next to her, Willow grasped her hand and squeezed it, making her look at her, the worried, but loving expression on the redhead's face warming up her heart.

"This might be connected with the vampires getting wilder", Buffy pointed out after a few seconds of silence, gaining the attention of everyone in the room, "it has been getting worse night after night… There aren't as many of them as in the past, actually they are getting less and less it seems, but those which are there are horrible, way more brutal and harsh than they used to be."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" Giles demanded to know, giving the Slayer a strict look; clearly uncomfortable, Buffy shrugged, sounding meek when she replied. "I didn't put much thought into it, to be honest… I thought they're just getting more aggressive towards me, for being the Slayer and everything, you know? But when Willow told me about Pat's short temper becoming even shorter…"

She shrugged again, Giles giving her another strict look and telling her that in the future, she was to inform him about such things immediately, making her nod quickly, this obviously satisfying her Watcher since he focused on the demon again. "The fact that it's not just happening to you isn't exactly calming, but at least it shows that it's not an attack aimed at you. Willow, did you check her for spells?"

"Of course I did", the witch gave back, sounding indignant about the fact that Giles might think she hadn't thought of this herself yet, "no spells on her…"

The Watcher nodded, as if he hadn't expected anything else; before he could speak on though, Anya quipped up, once more proving that so far, she hadn't grasped what tact was, and probably never would, even though her words were exceptionally blunt even for her. "Maybe you ought to have more sex, Pat. Aren't you keeping her satisfied anymore, Willow?"

"What?" the witch gave back, flabbergasted, while next to her, the demon perked up, staring at the ex-demon in disbelief.

"You know, maybe it would already help if you'd dress more attractive every now and then", Anya went on, with sudden, unknown vileness in her voice, going beyond bluntness and into the territory of insults. "You've improved since when we met, but you still have a long way to go…"

"Don't you talk about her like that", Pat snapped before Willow had the chance to say something, rising from her seat on the couch and clenching her fists, alarming everyone in the room – except for Anya, who held her gaze, her voice dripping with acid as she replied. "Or what? Or you'll unleash your fiery flames on me?"

"Maybe I will", the demon snapped, taking a step closer to the smaller woman, "if you don't take back what you said right now…"

"Stop it, both of you!" Buffy snapped before Anya could reply anything, getting up as well and preparing herself to move between the two since it seemed as if they'd start fighting any second. "This is the effect of… whatever the reason for all of this is… Anya, you must be affected as well, don't you see?"

"Oh, so you are the new know-it-all of the team?" the ex-demon snapped in reply, turning to look at the Slayer, the unexpected rage in her gaze nearly making Buffy take a step back as she asked herself how long this had been going on with Anya as well – and why Xander hadn't mentioned it, not even when it had become clear that it was not just her who was affected.

"I thought that's the role of our red-haired nerd over there!" the ex-demon now went on, throwing Pat a smug look, her next words causing the demon to start growling lowly in the back of her throat, something which never was a good sign, as they all knew by now. "Maybe, if she'd read less and focus on you more, you wouldn't have such a bad temper!"

"Shut the Hell up", the demon growled, taking yet another step closer to Anya, the rest watching in stunned silence while the ex-demon gave the taller woman another smug look.

"Make me", she then challenged; before Pat could try to do that though, Buffy went between Anya and her at last, glaring at them as impressively as she could.

"I said, stop it!" she bellowed, putting as much authority as possible into her voice.

"Get out of my way", Pat snarled in reply, giving her a glare that made it quite clear just how angry she was, her anger leaving no more room for rational thought.

"No", the Slayer replied, keeping her voice firm, "I will remain right here while you'll go back to the couch and sit down. Or go outside and have a smoke to calm down, I don't care. Just stop that nonsense here!"

"Let her come at me, if she wants to!" Anya now butted in to Buffy's dismay, startling the Slayer moments later by grabbing her and shoving her out of the way, the blonde just capable of staring at her in shock, unable to do anything else but watch when the ex-demon stepped up to the black haired woman, staring up at her.

"So", she spat, "I believe you wanted to make me—" Before she could finish her sentence, Pat suddenly moved both hands to her shoulders and shoved her, harsh enough to make her stumble back; while she fought to keep her balance, Xander jumped up, shouting "Hey!" and rushing over to the demon, stopping dead in his tracks though when Pat whipped around and glared at him.

"Enough of this now!" Willow finally managed to snap out of her shock, hurriedly getting up from the couch as well and moving over to her girlfriend, pushing past the indecisive looking Xander so she could move up to her girlfriend.

"Come on", she stated, not even giving Pat the chance to say anything, but grabbing her hand and pulling her over to the door, "we'll go outside now and you'll have a smoke there and calm down… And you, Xander, try to make your girlfriend shut up!"

Without waiting for his response, she pulled the demon out of the house with those words, rather forcefully closing the door behind herself, the rest just staring after them as they all wondered how close Pat and Anya actually had been to getting into a fist fight just a minute ago – and how much worse things would get before they would figure out what was the reason for all of this.

* * *

"Okay", Willow stated as soon as they were outside, making sure to stay between Pat and the door so the demon wouldn't rush back inside and beat Anya up after all, "now you light up a cigarette, or punch that tree over there, or whatever it'll take to calm you down, and then we'll go back inside and try to figure out what is going on."

"I'm sorry", the black haired woman sighed in reply, getting out her cigarettes and lighting one of them up afterwards, giving the witch an ashamed look as soon while she put the pack of cigarettes back into the pocket of her pants. "I know I shouldn't have let her get to me like that, but…"

"Well, she did get to me quite a bit, too", Willow admitted after a moment, "but clearly not as much as it affected you. I'm pretty sure though Buffy was right, and Anya's influenced by whatever the cause for this is as well…"

"But she's no longer a demon", Pat pointed out, "and it seems as if so far, only vampires and demons are affected by… whatever it is. None of you guys is acting any different…"

"Well, she was a demon for almost twelve hundred years", Willow shrugged, glad to see that being away from Anya obviously had helped to calm Pat down, "that's quite some time, so it still might affect her…"

"I hope we figure out fast what the reason for this is", the demon sighed, taking a long drag of her cigarette before she spoke on. "If this gets any worse, I don't know what I might do…"

"Well, your temper can't get much shorter than it already is", Willow tried to joke, eager to lighten the mood up a bit, "and I'm sure Giles will figure out soon what the reason for all this is… Then we can do something against it, and you'll go back to your usual short temper, instead of that even shorter version you're struggling with right now."

She smiled up at the taller woman as she stepped closer to her, embracing her tenderly; to her relief, the demon returned the smile and the hug, her smile widening at what the witch said next. "And until then, you'll have me to calm you down whenever you get angry…"

"Which will be often, until this has been worked out", Pat sighed in reply, Willow shrugging as an answer, plucking the cigarette out of her lover's fingers moments later and throwing it on the ground; before the demon had a chance to ask what this was about, the redhead showed her what she had in mind by pulling her down and kissing her with surprising passion, successfully blowing all of her anger and her annoyance about Anya and her behaviour away.


	5. Chapter 5

SillyGoatGruff: Thank you very much for the kind review :) I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well, along with everyone else who might read it :)

* * *

The couple stayed outside for twenty minutes, as Willow wanted to be fully sure that her girlfriend had calmed down properly before they'd go back inside; when they finally did so, Anya was sitting on Xander's lap, having the decency to look at least a bit ashamed the moment Willow's gaze met hers.

"I sincerely apologize for my nasty words aimed at you", she spoke up while the redhead and the demon made their way to the couch and sat down there again, "it seems that I'm really affected by whatever is causing all of this, and my words were not meant seriously."

"Alright", Willow gave back, nudging Pat afterwards, the black haired woman grudgingly apologizing to Anya for shoving her a moment later, making the ex-demon nod graciously in reply.

"So", the redhead spoke up as soon as this had been settled, "did you come up with anything while we were outside?"

"Unfortunately not", Giles sighed, taking off his glasses afterwards and starting to clean them, sounding distraught when he spoke on. "I'll get some books at the shop tomorrow", he added, putting the glasses back on, only to smirk momentarily when now, Pat took hers off and started wiping them on her shirt too, the sight amusing everyone else in the room as well, "and see if I can find anything in them which might be helpful."

"You need help with that?" Willow offered her support in reply, the Watcher giving her a thankful glance in reply and nodding; moments later, he was surprised as Pat stated that she'd help with the research, too, something she normally avoided, being more skilled when it came to fighting than about hitting the books.

"What?" she asked at the stunned look the Watcher was giving her, putting her glasses back on, "that'll keep me busy, and not even I can get angry about research."

"Good point, I guess", Giles had to admit after a moment, "I'll meet the two of you at the shop then tomorrow, at one p.m.? Anyone else want to join us?"

Buffy nodded in reply while Xander declined, explaining he had to work; once it had been settled who'd help with the research, the meeting was considered over, the gang this time immediately breaking up and all of them going home, none of them wanting to risk yet another fight between Pat and Anya.

"See you tomorrow then", the witch stated at the door, making Buffy and Giles nod; she smiled briefly at them, then threw Anya another short irritated glance before she grasped her lover's hand and finally left the Watcher's house with her, her thoughts circling around what was going on and how long it might take them to figure out how to stop it.

* * *

In the next afternoon, they arrived at the Magic Box punctually at 1 p.m., as it had been agreed upon; to the relief of both Willow and Pat, Anya was too busy with the customers at the store to pay much attention to them, merely waving Hello to them as they entered and moved to the table where Giles and a stack of books already were waiting.

"Buffy's late", Willow observed while she sat down, Pat taking the seat next to her, the Watcher nodding his agreement to the redhead's statement before he handed her one of the books, then gave another one to Pat, letting the two know that he was quite sure they'd be able to find something in one of the volumes he had dug up.

"Look for rituals or spells to increase the demonic side of people like you, Pat, or to heighten aggressiveness… Or anything connected to the Hellmouth", he advised while he opened one of the books as well; nodding, the two women exchanged a short, warm glance before they focused on their books as well, the only noise for a while being the turning of the pages, accompanied by the talk of the customers and Anya helping them the best she could, something which wasn't easy as her already blunt nature was increased by whatever also was responsible for Pat's shortening temper.

"Hey!" the ex-demon's voice tore them out of their research twenty minutes later, causing them all to look up, eyebrows wandering upwards at the sight of Anya holding a young guy's collar in an iron grip, her face full of anger, "put that back!"

"What is going on?" Giles demanded to know, making Anya look at him briefly, her voice as angry as her face when she replied. "He took a crystal and put it in his pocket! And now he won't give it back, that's stealing, it's illegal and a loss for me!"

"Is this true?" Giles demanded to know while next to him, Willow threw Pat a worried look – so far, the clothes of her lover weren't smoking, but by now, the witch knew her girlfriend well enough to be aware of when she was getting angry, and this was just what was happening right now.

"Well", the guy now started, not sounding all too troubled about the fact that he apparently had been caught shoplifting, "actually…"

To the shock of everyone, he suddenly fell silent, pushing Anya against the shelf next to her as hard as he could a moment later; with a yelp, she involuntarily let go of him, and he started to rush towards the exit of the store, not even looking back to see if he had actually hurt the smaller woman. Thus, he also didn't see how Pat practically catapulted herself out of her chair and dashed after him; with a rather daring dive, she tackled him and made him fall, punching him twice before Willow or Giles even had the chance to react.

"Stop it!" Willow finally managed to snap out of her shock at this way too harsh behaviour, getting up from her chair as well and hurrying over to where Pat was punching the by now whimpering guy for the fourth time.

"Pat, stop it, you'll kill him!" Willow tried again, grabbing the shoulder of her loved one; at once, the taller woman's head whipped around, the witch nearly jumping back when that angry, glowing red gaze met hers.

"Get away from me", the demon bellowed a second later, letting of the thief with one hand and grabbing her girlfriend; for a moment, Willow wasn't sure what was going on, then she was shoved harshly and stumbled a few steps back before she fell and hit the ground hard, a low groan escaping her as pain welled up within her. The sight of the witch falling and the sound of pain she let out was enough to snap Pat out of her anger; her eyes went wide as she stared at what she had done, then she let go of the guy and hurriedly came to her feet, rushing over to where Willow was sitting and crouching down next to her, her voice filled with worry as she spoke up. "Oh God, I'm sorry, are you okay? I didn't mean to…"

"I'm fine", the redhead gave back, smiling weakly when Pat took a careful hold of her and helped her to her feet, the black haired woman clearly shocked about what she had done; behind them, Giles got up from his seat and made his way to where the thief still laid, the young man dazed from the beating he had taken, only groaning when the Watcher grabbed him and yanked him to his feet, then started searching through his pockets until he had found the crystal which had been the reason for this mess.

"I'm sorry", the demon repeated, both Willow and her ignoring how Giles dragged the thief over to the door and threw him out of the shop rather unceremoniously. "I don't know what came over me…"

"It's okay, I'm fine", Willow reassured her, giving her another smile to calm her down, clearly seeing how upset she was. "Really… Don't worry, nothing happened…"

"Not yet", the demon gave back, the sound of her voice and the expression in her eyes when she looked at the redhead all at once filling Willow's heart with fear. "This will get worse", Pat continued, nervously running both hands through her hair, "and sooner or later, I won't be able to stop myself anymore…"

"What are you trying to say?" the witch demanded to know in reply, even though she wasn't sure if she really wanted to hear.

"I'm losing control", the black haired woman gave back, throwing Willow another helpless look. "And I'm afraid of hurting you sooner or later… Maybe… Maybe we should stay apart until this has been worked out…"

"No!" Willow immediately cried out, the desperate sound of her voice making Giles and Anya looking at the couple as well, both of them realizing that something unpleasant was happening between them. "Please", the witch added, grasping her girlfriend's hand and giving her a desperate look, suddenly sure that she wouldn't be able to take it if Pat left, no matter for how long, "please don't say that… It'll be fine, maybe I can work up some spell to calm you down or, or Giles can make some potion, or you could use tranquilizers, or maybe take some valerian every now and then, until we figured out what is going on, and then…"

"Willow", Pat interrupted her babbling before she could pass out from lack of oxygen, "I'm sorry, but… Please, you have to understand, I can't take the risk of hurting you!"

"No, I don't understand", the witch gave back, tears filling her eyes while all Giles and Anya could do was watch the drama unfold. "I don't understand that you want to leave me…"

"I'm not leaving you", the demon shook her head in reply, squeezing her hand tenderly, "this is not a breakup… As soon as we figured this out, everything will be back to normal, I promise, but until then… I'm losing control over myself, and it'll only get worse until we found a solution… I'm sorry."

In response, Willow just looked at her for a few more seconds, her eyes shimmering with so far unshed tears; then, she swallowed heavily, her voice hoarse when she spoke up at last. "Promise this is just temporary…"

"I promise", the black haired woman immediately gave back, pulling her into a comforting embrace afterwards, the witch squeezing her eyes shut to hold back her tears, hiding her face against the taller woman' shoulder. "And I'm sorry I have to put you through this", she continued, her voice now low as she was murmuring in Willow's ear, keeping the Watcher and the ex-demon from hearing what exactly she was saying, "but sooner or later, I will hurt you if I stay around… And I'd never forgive myself for that. I love you…"

"I love you, too", the witch brought out in reply, still sounding close to tears, "and now go, if you really think you have to… Before I lose control of myself, too, and tie you in place with a vine or something…"

This made the demon smile slightly, and she nodded before she kissed the redhead briefly; afterwards, she pulled back from the hug and, without looking back, knowing that she wouldn't be able to do it if she just glanced at Willow one more time, left the shop, the redhead looking after her with her lower lip trembling slightly as she fought back her tears, telling herself again and again that this was just temporary and that soon, everything would be fine again.


	6. Chapter 6

"Sorry for being late", Buffy apologized as she entered the Magic Box twenty minutes after Pat had left, "but Dawn needed help with her…"

She trailed off as her gaze fell on Willow and she saw the expression on the redhead's face, her whole posture as she sat at the table and stared down on the wood making her look like a picture of misery, a crumpled up handkerchief in one hand and the wet streaks on her cheeks showing that she had been crying not all too long ago.

"What happened?" the Slayer demanded to know, only to realize a second later that a certain, short-tempered member of the gang was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Pat?" she thus added before the witch had a chance to reply, the toneless sound of Willow's voice when she finally spoke up nearly breaking her best friend's heart. "She left."

"What do you mean, she left?" Buffy demanded to know, moving over to the table and sitting down next to the redhead, looking at her with concern. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know", the redhead gave back, sounding as if she was close to tears once more; before she could start crying again though, Giles spoke up, making the Slayer look at him while he briefly explained what had happened. Once he had finished telling her of the unpleasant events she had missed, Buffy remained quiet for a while, trying to sort out her thoughts; then, she let out a small sigh, looking at the witch sympathetically, understanding how hard this had to be for her, but also able to comprehend why Pat had thought it would be best to stay away from her loved one until they had figured out what was happening.

"I'm sure we'll figure this out quickly", she tried to give her friend some comfort, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "and then everything will be back to normal… Plus, Pat herself said that it's just temporary, right? So she's not breaking up with you…"

"I know", Willow gave back, finally looking at the Slayer, the sad expression in her eyes clenching up Buffy's heart once more. "But it still hurts", she then added, giving the Slayer another miserable look. "It seems everyone is leaving me sooner or later… Oz did, Tara, too, and now Pat…"

"This is not the same", Buffy immediately gave back, shaking her head before Willow could even try to talk back, "and it's just for a short time, until we figured out how to stop this increase of aggression…"

To her relief, Willow nodded after a moment, giving her a weak smile – before she grabbed the book she had been going through before all of this mess had started, putting on her "Resolve Face", to the obvious surprise of both Giles and Buffy.

"We better figure this out fast then", she stated at the looks her friends gave her, "and not just because of me… Before things really do get worse and Pat hurts some random innocent person."

"You've got a point there", Buffy had to admit, still a bit startled by this sudden change of attitude; deciding that it was better to be faced with Research Mode Willow than with Depressed Willow though, she grasped the book Pat had been going through before the big drama, Giles following her example a moment later, silence once more filling the store as they all focused on their research again.

* * *

Two hours later, Giles declared that it was enough for now and that there was no use in going on any further; they had found several useful references which he would go through in more detail once he'd be back home, promising that he'd inform them as soon as he'd find something. Sensing that in her current state, it wouldn't be good for Willow to be alone, Buffy offered her to come to the apartment with her; the redhead nodded in reply, grateful for the suggestion of her friend, briefly wondering where Pat would be staying now – before she forced herself to push it aside, telling herself that it didn't really matter as it only was temporary anyway.

"We can get ice cream, and some girly movie, and have a girl's night", Buffy suggested as they left the Magic Box together, smiling widely at her friend in a – rather vain, as it turned out – attempt to cheer her up; to her dismay, Willow gave her a rather dismayed look in reply, sounding miffed when she answered her. "That's what people do when a breakup happened. But we didn't break up."

"No, of course not", Buffy quickly reassured her friend, still with that insanely wide smile on her face, "that's not just for breakups, also for cheering up friends who are down due to… temporarily being apart from their loved one. Maybe no girly movie, then", she changed her idea when Willow gave her another dismayed look in reply, "how about something funny instead?"

"Or how about some drama about being temporarily separated from your loved one", Willow muttered, causing Buffy to give her another worried look; sighing, the witch made herself smile at her friend, then nodded, giving her best not to sound miffed anymore as she spoke on. "Alright, ice cream and something funny… But not romantic-funny, just silly-funny. Okay?"

"Fine with me", Buffy beamed, glad that her plan to distract Willow from her heartache had been accepted, "we better go and get ice cream then, unless you have some at the apartment that is…"

"We… I mean, I do", the redhead replied, to the surprise of the Slayer blushing slightly – before Buffy realized what probably had been done with that ice cream and cleared her throat, giving her best friend another cheerful smile afterwards. "Then we'll just need to get the movie, and that's just what we'll do now. So let's go!"

With those words, she grabbed Willow's hand and hurried up her steps, the redhead following her obediently as they made their way to the nearest video rental shop, the Slayer determined to give her best friend the distraction she needed – while said best friend just focused on trying to ignore her aching heart, once more telling herself that it was just temporary and that sooner or later, she'd be with her loved one again.

* * *

To Buffy's relief, the ice cream and the silly movie they had chosen did help to cheer Willow up at least a bit, the witch not looking as heartbroken as she had in the shop anymore by the time the movie had ended; the smile she gave Buffy when the Slayer asked if she should stay during the night was much more honest than the ones she had shown during their walk to the video rental shop, filled with gratitude as she nodded. "That'd be nice, I don't really want to be alone tonight… You know, it's the first time since I moved in here with her that she's not sleeping here with me… Not counting the time when she was suffering from amnesia, of course."

"It must be hard for her, as well", Buffy observed in reply, giving the witch a sympathetic look. "I'm sure she misses you just as much right now as you miss her… But don't worry, we'll have this figured out in no time, and then she'll come back to you."

"I know", Willow sighed, "but it's still not easy… I just hope Giles will be able to come up with a solution soon."

"He surely will", the Slayer gave back, finishing her ice cream afterwards and putting the bowl on the table; the redhead did the same, her gaze momentarily focusing on the ashtray which stood next to her emptied bowl, the longing for her girlfriend tugging at her heart once more at the sight.

"I never would have thought I'd miss the smell of cigarette smoke", she sighed, throwing a longing look at the ashtray, "but I do now…"

"We could get Spike to come here and have a few cigarettes", Buffy offered thoughtlessly, gulping at the look Willow threw her; quickly, she smiled and raised both hands, giving her best to sound innocent as she spoke on. "Just joking, I swear…"

"I surely hope so", Willow muttered, getting up from the couch afterwards and grabbing the emptied ice cream bowls; she told Buffy that she'd be back in a minute, then made her way into the kitchen, putting the bowls into the sink there. Sighing to herself, she turned on the hot water and let it run into the bowls so they could soak and the ice cream wouldn't dry up, making it harder to clean them; for a while, she just stood there, watching how the water was filling the bowls, then made them overflow, once more telling herself that she wouldn't cry, that there was no reason to cry and that their separation was only temporary.

A strange, unexpected sound from the window distracted her from her thoughts, and she automatically glanced over; moments later, a shriek escaped her as the glass shattered, two horribly disfigured looking men crawling in, the witch automatically taking a step back – only to nearly bump into Buffy as the Slayer came rushing into the kitchen, alarmed by the sound of breaking glass and her best friend's scream, noises which never meant anything good, especially not in a town like Sunnydale.

"I don't recall inviting you to our slumber party", she stated coolly as soon as she had pushed past Willow, making sure that the witch was behind her, scrunching up her nose when she saw how ugly the intruders were, open sores and badly healed burns covering their hairless heads.

"You know, you might get more invitations if you'd take better care of your looks", she added, then apparently decided that there had been enough talk, since she took another step closer to the two – and brought her leg up in a high kick, sending one of the two backwards as her foot connected with his head.

Clenching her fists, she delivered a series of fierce punches at his companion, almost absent-mindedly bringing her elbow down on the head of the intruder she had kicked when he tried to struggle to his feet again; behind her, Willow rushed out of the kitchen and into the bedroom where Pat kept a chest of weapons next to her side of the bed, quickly opening it and getting out one of the swords stored within it. Quickly, she turned and hurried out of the bedroom, eager to get back to the kitchen so she could provide Buffy with the weapon; before she could do so though, the living room window all at once shattered as well, two more of the disfigured guys climbing in, the witch not shouting anymore this time, but merely groaning, asking herself why this had to happen now, when all she had been planning for the evening had been to indulge in self-pity, opposed to fighting ugly monster men who wanted God knew what.

For a moment, she considered using the sword, then decided against it – weapons had never been her strong side, and if those two were just a tiny bit experienced, she'd probably end up hurting herself instead; thus, she focused as quickly and as well as she could before she brought up her hand, muttering "Bind" at one of the two, briefly smirking when the carpet seemed to grow fuzzy tentacles which wrapped around his arms and legs, keeping him in place.

Grunting, the guy tried to struggle free; his companion seemed to be taken aback by that for a moment, then regained his sense as he rushed at Willow, the witch almost automatically bringing the sword up, grimacing when he swiped it out of her uneasy grasp with one movement of his fist, giving her best to ignore the pain which flashed up in her wrist as the weapon clattered to the floor.

Snarling at her again, baring his ugly brown and black, crooked teeth at her, the attacker lashed out, backhanding her across the face hard enough to send her a few steps back; gritting her teeth and trying to ignore the pain, Willow brought up her hand again, but before she could cast yet another spell, he had hit her once more, this time straight in the face, hard enough to split her lip and to send her to the ground.

With two fast steps, he had caught up to her, causing her to cry out again when he grasped her hair, his other hand moving beneath his robe and bringing out a rather large looking dagger; with her eyes widening, the witch struggled to get away from him, feebly raising her arm to defend herself against the blade as it came down.

Yet another shout escaped her as the blade bit into her arm, drawing blood; the man holding it snarled again, then jerked it back, all at once coming to his feet and hurrying over to the window, waving the dagger over his head in a gesture that looked strangely triumphant; his companion at last managed to tear free of the carpet and followed him outside, Willow looking after them stunned as they vanished into the night, asking herself what all of this had been about.


	7. Chapter 7

"Let's hope you won't turn into stone during the night", Buffy voiced her concern a short time later, sitting in the living room with the witch; in response, Willow let out a hiss as the Slayer carefully dabbed the disinfectant on the cut, both of them glad to see that it wasn't all too deep.

"I don't think so", she mumbled after a moment, giving the Slayer a grateful look when she started bandaging her arm, covering the cut to make sure it wouldn't get infected, "Pat told me that the wound felt all tingly after she'd been cut back then, no tingly feelings here."

"Good", Buffy smiled, finishing taking care of the wound by taping the bandage in place with a strip of sticking plaster, gesturing at the first aid kit she had gotten the materials from afterwards and raising an eyebrow at the witch. "You know, I'm actually surprised Pat owns such a thing, it's not like she'd ever need it."

"She didn't until I moved in", Willow gave back, briefly giggling to herself, "I made her get one back then…"

"Should have known", the Slayer smirked in reply, then checked her wristwatch, sighing to herself afterwards as she muttered about why it was taking Xander so long to come over.

"Give him some time", the redhead advised in reply, "you probably phoned him out of bed with Anya, seeing how late it was when we called..."

"Could be", the blonde shrugged in reply, "but fighting those two guys made me tired, so I wanna go to sleep soon, but I can only do that once the windows have been boarded up, so…"

"I hope you didn't have too much trouble with those two guys, without proper weapons", Willow grimaced, angered at herself for failing to bring Buffy the sword; shaking her head, her best friend smiled at her, her response making the redhead's eyes go wide. "No, it was okay… I used a kitchen knife."

"You used one of our kitchen knives to kill those ugly, sore-covered creatures?" the witch finally brought out after a moment, baffled, "eeeewwww, Buffy! Tell me which one so I can throw it away, I'll never cut food with that one again!"

"I didn't have anything else!" Buffy defended herself, "well, except for a frying pan or the ice cream bowls, but those aren't exactly deadly. Not even in the hands of the Slayer."

"I'll still throw it away", Willow shuddered in response, making Buffy shake her head to herself as an answer, the blonde grateful when a knock came from the door, distracting the redhead from the topic of which knife had been used to kill the nasty uglies.

"That must be Xander", Willow stated while she got up from her seat and moved out of the living room, to the hallway and the door; smiling, she opened the door, greeting the young man with a brief hug before she led him into the living room, Buffy waving hi at him from the couch before she gestured at the broken window.

"There's another one in the kitchen", she informed him helpfully; nodding, Xander held up the toolbox he had brought in reply, then asked Buffy if she'd mind going to the car with him and get the boards of wood he had brought to board up the windows until they could be properly repaired, making the blonde nod her agreement before she got up from the couch and looked at the witch, asking her if she'd be okay.

"You're just going to the car to get the wood", Willow gave back, sounding both touched by the Slayer's concern and amused by her overdone worry, "I'll be fine for a few minutes…"

"Okay", Buffy gave back, still appearing worried though, "I just don't want you find turned into stone when we come back, that's all."

"That won't happen", the redhead reassured her, "as I said, no tingly feeling…"

Finally, the Slayer seemed satisfied, since she nodded and left the apartment with Xander; for a moment, Willow looked after them, then glanced down on the bandage wrapped around her forearm, finally having the time to think about how strange all of this had been – after all, the guy who had cut her technically had been in the perfect position to kill her, but hadn't done so, only using the blade on her arm before he'd run off.

Remembering the triumphant way he had swung the knife over his head, Willow wondered if they just had been after her blood; she knew that there were some rituals which required a witch's blood, but couldn't imagine that anyone would be silly enough to actually go after her, since her friendship with the Slayer was a well-known fact among Sunnydale's evil population.

Making a mental note to herself that she'd ask Giles about it, the witch sat down on the couch again, throwing a dismayed glance at the broken window; she hoped that Xander would be able to board it up properly, then shrugged it off and told herself that he knew what he was doing, a small sigh escaping her as the sudden peace and quiet allowed her to think of Pat once more and make her wonder where her girlfriend was and how she was doing.

* * *

After the windows had been boarded up, Xander wished the girls a nice evening and left them alone again; since by now, Willow felt quite tired as well, she suggested that they'd go to bed now, to the Slayer's amusement blushing as she did so, causing Buffy to rise an eyebrow at her curiously.

"What is it? Spit it out", she then claimed, Willow clearing her throat before she answered, her cheeks still having a healthy red colour.

"Well", she started, clearing her throat once more before she went on, "I was wondering if you'd prefer to sleep in the big bed with me, I mean just beside me of course, I can put fresh sheets on it if you like, the couch isn't all that comfortable and it'll be cold because of the broken window, so…"

"Willow", Buffy interrupted her before oxygen might become an issue for her, holding back the urge to giggle, "you're my best friend, I've slept next to you before. Why are you so freaked about this all of a sudden?"

"Well, you haven't slept next to me anymore since I came out", the redhead reminded her friend in reply, Buffy considering this for a moment before she realized that the witch actually was right about that, "and I didn't want to make you uncomfortable…"

"You wouldn't be able to make me uncomfortable if you tried", Buffy gave back, smiling calmingly at her best friend; briefly, she thought about the comments both Willow and Pat had made every now and then about their apparently quite healthy sex life, then shrugged it off and told herself that it wasn't important, making her way into the bedroom with the redhead where they put fresh sheets on the bed, then both laid down to sleep, the excitement of the evening soon sending them both into deep, dreamless slumber.

* * *

In the next morning, Willow called Giles and told him about what had happened, the Watcher to her dismay agreeing that they probably only had been after her blood; at least though, it seemed as if they hadn't been particularly after her, but merely after human blood in general, Giles explaining that he had found something rather interesting and asking the two to come to his place, something they did right after they both had had a shower and breakfast.

"They probably attacked you because they thought you're just two helpless girls", he explained once they had arrived there and had made themselves comfortable, causing Buffy to raise an eyebrow – before she crossed her arms over her chest, looking and sounding mildly annoyed when she spoke up. "Two helpless girls? You'd think I've been around long enough by now to let everyone on the dark side know who I am."

"They might have come from out of town", Giles shrugged, "or from another dimension, even. Would you mind describing them again?"

"Well, they were horribly ugly", Willow gave back, realizing a moment later that this wasn't all too helpful and quickly continuing, before Giles could give her one of his impatient looks over the rim of his glasses, "their faces were covered with open sores and burn scars… They had no hair, and awfully ugly teeth."

"They were wearing robes", Buffy helpfully threw in as well, "long black ones. Kinda like priests."

"Like priests", Giles repeated, getting up from his seat and moving to his book shelf, "like this?"

With those words, he pulled one of the books out and opened it, turning it so that the two could look at it, both of them grimacing at the picture which dominated the page.

"Quite accurate", Buffy finally agreed, "with rather excessive love for detail. They even got all the tiny, gross sores."

"My assumption was right, then", Giles gave back, sitting down again and turning the book once more so he could read the printed words, "they weren't after you, Willow, in particular, or after you, Buffy… They just wanted some human blood. If this is correct, they are working for… a priest, with the power to summon them when needed."

He sounded surprised at his own words, the two women frowning as well – after all, priests were supposed to be on the good side, albeit they usually were quite useless, with all their praying and mumbling sermons.

"A satanic priest, maybe?" Willow guessed, her surprise growing when Giles shook his head, looking up at her again afterwards. "A fallen priest, it says here. This could mean a lot of things… But I guess this shouldn't keep us too busy right now, if what this book here says is correct, they need a certain amount of human blood to activate a… a seal or a gate, it's not very clear on that point… Whatever it is, once it has been activated, it will give this priest control of the vampires and other demons in the area, it will call out to them and make them come to him."

"Could this be the reason why they all are getting so much more aggressive?" Buffy demanded to know, making the Watcher nod after a moment, his voice thoughtful as he replied. "Yes, this is very possible… If they need to collect blood from several humans, as it says here, and the more they add, the stronger the influence of the seal or the gate becomes."

"So Pat will be called there, as well", Willow muttered, not sure what to think of this; to her surprise, Giles shook his head, giving her a reassuring smile afterwards.

"Not necessarily", he then let her know, "technically, she is a demon, but I assume that, after almost two years of helping the Slayer and fighting on the good side, the call might not reach her as strongly as it will be for the other vampires and the more evil demons around."

"We should just ask her", Buffy shrugged in reply, then realized that this wasn't exactly easy, since neither she, nor Willow had an idea where the demon had gone.

"If only we knew where she is", Willow voiced the Slayer's thoughts a second later, sighing; in response, Giles cleared his throat and put his glasses back on, having the decency to sound a bit ashamed when he replied. "Actually, I do know where she is…"

"You know?" Willow cried out, looking at him in shock, "and that wasn't the first thing you told me when I came here? Where is she? How do you know?"

"She called me, and told me", the Watcher admitted, giving the witch an apologetic glance afterwards. "I assume she informed me because she wanted to avoid another… heartbreaking scene on the phone with you, it is not exactly pleasant for her, either."

"Where is she?" Willow repeated, glaring at him when he didn't answer immediately. "Tell me!"

"In a hotel, not far from your apartment", Giles finally sighed out, looking dismayed about his own words. "But don't you dare to go there now", he quickly added, "I promised her I wouldn't tell you."

"What?" the witch gave back, sounding so shocked and heartbroken that it made Buffy's heart clench up once more, "why would she want that?"

"It's becoming worse", Giles simply replied, the redhead immediately knowing what he was talking about; swallowing heavily, she nodded after a moment, letting herself sink back into her seat, making it clear that she wouldn't jump up and rush to the hotel where her loved one was staying.

"Let's hope we figure this out soon, then", she mumbled after a moment of thinking about this in silence, "before she really does kill someone, just for looking at her the wrong way…"

"As much as I hate to say this, it might be wiser if you do stay apart until then", Buffy carefully stated in reply, making Willow look at her again, the Slayer shrugging helplessly before she continued, hoping she'd be able to get her point across without offending her best friend. "You know that she'd punch out people for just looking at you the wrong way when you started dating, so who knows what she might do now if she gets the feeling she has to defend you…"

"Good point", the redhead had to admit after a moment – even though she had managed to tone Pat's temper down a bit during the time they had been together, the demon still was awfully protective of her, and she didn't want to imagine what she might do to the poor guy who'd decide to grope her as long as she was in that peculiar state of mind.

"We better get back to work", she stated once she had managed to push those unpleasant thoughts out of her mind, "and see if we can figure out how to stop whatever that priest plans to do…"

Nodding, the other two focused on their books again as well, none of them noticing that for a while, Willow just sat there staring at the same page of her volume, her mind miles away as she thought of her loved one and asked herself if Pat was missing her as much as she was longing for the demon to be close to her again.


	8. Chapter 8

JamChop: Thank you for the review :-) Yeah, I tend to be kinda nasty to the characters in my stories (no matter if fanfiction or original stuff), but, well, if it'd be lovey-dovey type of stuff all the time, it'd be kinda boring. ;-) Thank you for reading, I hope you'll enjoy what's next to come :-)

For the next two days, the witch kept herself busy by hacking into the police's database regularly, checking for any reports on mysterious ugly monster men attacking random people and cutting them to get some blood; it didn't surprise her that not many of them were showing up, the attacked people probably afraid that no one would believe them or that they would end up being looked at as insane, but the reports she did manage to get her hands on were rather unsettling, since the last one had been made before Buffy and she had been attacked in the apartment.

She knew that this could either mean that the so far unknown priest either had collected enough blood by now to start his strange ritual – or that so far, no more reports had been made about such incidents, a possibility which was at the same time calming and terrifying, the redhead often wondering what would happen once the ritual would be done and the priest would have control over the demons and vampires of the town.

Despite Giles' reassuring words, she still wasn't sure if Pat really would be immune against the influence of the call the seal or gate would send out; the thought that maybe, she would have to face her loved one in battle made her sick to her stomach, and again and again, she asked herself if she'd really be able to harm Pat, should it ever be necessary. When she wasn't busy with hacking into the police files, she kept her mind occupying by going to Giles' place or to the Magic Box to help with research; so far though, nothing really useful had come up, neither any clues on where the ritual might be held, nor how it might be undone once it was finished, the whole group suspecting though that, if the ritual would be performed successfully, the death of the mysterious fallen priest probably would be enough to undo whatever effects it might have.

For forty-eight hours, she managed to keep herself occupied enough with all those tasks to keep herself from rushing off and to the hotel Pat was staying at; when she woke up at the morning of the third day though, her longing was so big that all at once, it felt as if she'd either have to give in to it or be suffocated by it, the witch quickly making her choice, seconds after she had opened her eyes and had painfully realized that she was alone in the large bed.

For a moment, she wondered if this might have been different, had Buffy slept next to her again; then, she decided against it, after all, the Slayer was a poor substitute for her girlfriend, no matter how much she loved her as her best friend. Quickly, she got out of bed and made her way into the bathroom, with fresh energy now that she had made up her mind and had decided that she wouldn't be parted from her loved one much longer; she had a hurried shower, then forced herself to at least drink a cup of coffee for breakfast, telling herself that it wouldn't be smart to rush to the hotel early in the morning and maybe wake Pat up – the demon already was grumpy enough in the morning when she had her usual temper, the redhead grimacing as she imagined how her girlfriend might behave now.

Once she had finished the coffee, she put on some more appropriate clothes than the bathrobe she had been wearing for breakfast, after some consideration choosing a skirt she knew Pat liked and a violet top the demon favoured as well; if she'd do this, she'd do it right, and make sure that her girlfriend would be dumbstruck the moment she'd see her.

Smiling to herself, Willow took the time to check herself in the large bedroom mirror once more, deciding that she looked just fine; hurriedly, she put on her jacket, then almost stepped into her shoes before she hurried off, her heart beating up to her throat with excitement as she left the apartment building and headed to the hotel close to her home, telling herself that this had to be the place where her loved one was staying.

* * *

It took her some convincing and even a five dollar bribe to make the clerk at the reception tell her Pat's room number without phoning said room and informing the black haired woman that a visitor was coming up; finally though, he had been convinced that it was alright to just let her go upstairs without telling his guest about her, and she almost skipped as she made her way to the elevator, smiling happily to herself.

While she waited for the elevator to take her to the third floor, she once more mused on the silly surname Pat had chosen to use whenever one was needed – she had pointed out several times that "Pat Patterson" neither sounded very creative, nor realistic, but her girlfriend never had bothered to change it, something which relieved Willow now as it surely would have made the clerk even more suspicious than he already had been if she hadn't known the surname of the woman she wanted to visit.

Finally, the elevator stopped at the third floor and the doors opened; taking a deep breath, Willow stepped outside, all her thoughts about Pat's surname forgotten as she made her way down the hall, looking at the numbers on the doors, until she finally had found the right one, her heart hammering up to her throat once more.

_Don't be silly, _she scolded herself, shaking her head, _you behave as if you haven't seen her for three years instead of three days! _Still this didn't help to make her feel any less nervous, as all at once, she was afraid of how Pat might react – after all, she had told Giles not to inform the others were she was staying, and the last thing Willow wanted was to make the taller woman mad, no matter if she'd be mad at the Watcher or at her for snooping after her when she had made it quite clear that it'd be best if they'd stay apart for a while.

Then, she told herself once more not to be stupid and that Pat never would get mad at her for wanting to be with her, not even with the micro-temper she had to deal with right now; with another deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked the door, her heart in her mouth as she heard footsteps approach it.

Moments later, she could hear the key turn in the lock; then, the door opened, and Pat was staring down on her, a mixture of surprise and – to the relief of the witch – intense happiness in her eyes, her voice slightly disbelieving when she finally spoke up, not sounding all too smart. "Willow…?"

All the witch could do was nod in reply – before she had the chance to say anything, Pat had grabbed her by the front of her shirt and, not ungentle, pulled her into the room, slamming the door shut before she pushed her up against the wood, a surprised, but pleased moan escaping the redhead when the taller woman's lips were on hers moments later. It wasn't a gentle kiss, like the ones they usually shared; instead, it was passionate, almost hungry, the fact that the taller woman's hands already were tugging on her top and skirt only increasing the impression, but Willow would have lied if she had said she minded it – there was something immensely turning on about how eager her girlfriend was to get her out of her clothes.

"Careful", she finally managed to bring out between kisses, panting, "or you'll tear my clothes…"

"I'll buy you new ones", the demon gave back, shutting her up with another heated kiss before she had the chance to reply; somehow, the couple managed to make it over to the bed without breaking the kiss, Willow briefly wondering if Pat had used some so far unknown demonic power to grow some extra hands, since she now seemed to work not just on the witch's clothing, but also on the ones she was wearing herself – then, her top finally came off, followed suit by her skirt, and all thoughts and wonderings where forgotten.


	9. Chapter 9

"That's a non-smoking room", Willow chided gently quite some time later, watching with a frown how Pat lit up a cigarette; shrugging, the demon smirked at her, then reached across her to the nightstand and grabbed the glass of water which had been placed there, the cigarette butts swimming in the liquid and turning it a rather ugly yellow making it clear that this wasn't the first time she was breaking that rule.

"_All_ rooms in that hotel are non-smoking, and I'm a demon", she pointed out, shrugging at the look the redhead gave her in response, "I'm supposed to do evil things."

"Yeah, because smoking in a non-smoking room is so evil", Willow giggled, shaking her head at those silly words, "I bet it's right on top of the top ten of evil things demons can do."

"Well, maybe not", the black haired woman admitted after a moment, smiling as well while she took a drag of the forbidden cigarette, "but at least it's a bit evil. Even though I have to say, you do top that by squeezing the information where I'm staying out of poor Giles, after I told him not to…"

"I didn't squeeze anything out of anyone", Willow defended herself, grimacing the moment those words had left her mouth. "Okay, that sounded less wrong in my head", she admitted, then focused on her girlfriend again, "and that wasn't an evil thing to do! I just wanted to see you… I had to see you."

"Can't say that I wasn't happy to see you", the demon gave back, smirking; putting an arm around the witch, she pulled her closer to herself, Willow immediately snuggling up to her, a happy sigh escaping her as she once more was close to the woman she loved, only now realizing fully how much she had missed this the last three days.

Deep inside, she knew that Buffy had been right when she had said that it might be smarter for the couple to stay apart until the whole situation could be solved; telling herself that now was not the time to think of this though, she pushed that unpleasant knowledge aside, focusing on how good it felt to be close to Pat again instead.

"You know, you surprised me quite a bit with how wild you were", she stated instead of bringing up the dismaying fact that soon, they would have to part again, "I mean, you are quite passionate all the time, but back then… Whew. Major wildness."

"I couldn't really help myself", Pat chuckled in reply, finishing her cigarette and dumping it into the half-full glass of water, where it went out with an audible hiss, "after not seeing you for horribly long three days, the sight of you just set me aflame."

"I'm glad that didn't happen in the literal sense", Willow giggled in reply, making the black haired woman chuckle once more as well; they shared another kiss, much more tender this time, then just enjoyed being close to each other, both of them fully aware that not all too soon, they would have to part again.

* * *

When Willow returned to the apartment two hours later, she was surprised to find Buffy waiting for her in front of the door; one look of the Slayer was enough to tell her that she was in trouble, and she gulped while she got out the keys, giving her best to sound cheerful and innocent as she greeted her best friend. "Hi Buffy! What brings you here? Did we settle a meeting and I forgot…?"

"No", the Slayer gave back, following her inside the apartment once she had opened the door, "I came here to tell you that what you did was, no matter how much I understand it, quite silly."

"I'm glad to hear you understand me", Willow gave back, giving her best not to sound miffed, knowing that Buffy was having a valid point, "but it wasn't silly… I know Pat would never hurt me, not even now, and I just had to see her."

"She shoved you hard enough to make you fall", Buffy reminded her, even though she hadn't been there when it had happened, the witch nodding, a small sigh escaping her afterwards, her voice solemn when she replied. "She did, but she got angry at that other guy first… I bet if that hadn't happened, she never would have touched me. And Buffy, I just missed her so much… You know we've never been apart this long before, well except for that one time when she lost her memories, and I… I just couldn't take it any longer…"

"I understand", the Slayer reassured her, letting out a sigh as well while she placed a reassuring hand on the witch's shoulder and led her over to the living room couch, making her sit down there and taking a seat next to her, "and trust me, I'd be happier too if she'd be around, just in case those ugly monster men come back or something… But until we figured this out, you know that you should stay apart."

"I know", Willow mumbled, the dismayed, depressed sound of her voice making the Slayer's heart clench up, "but… I just want her around so much… I need her, Buffy…"

For a while, the blonde remained silent, trying to sort her thoughts; it pained her to see the witch so down, a feeling which probably had to be much worse now that her separation from Pat actually had been interrupted, and she knew that, in case it'd come to a fight soon, the demon and her abilities would come in handy, giving her best to weigh the pros and cons of having the black haired woman come back here, her voice and facial expression serious when she finally spoke up again.

"Once we found out where to find this priest, we'll all need her, well not in the way you do, but you know what I mean", she slowly started, Willow holding her breath as she listened to her, asking herself where this might lead. "And we'll need you fully focused and in control of your powers… Something which won't be easy for you as long as you're longing for her, right?"

"Right", Willow agreed, barely daring to hope – after all, Buffy had made it rather clear what she thought of the idea that Pat and she would stay apart until this had been dealt with.

"That's it then", the Slayer shrugged, getting done with the matter surprisingly quickly and rising from the couch, "I'll go and get her. I trust your judgement, if you say she won't hurt you, she probably won't, but just keep her away from any guys who look at you the wrong way or something."

"Can't I come along?" Willow demanded to know, already rising from the couch as well; shaking her head, Buffy pushed her back down on the seat, smirking as she replied, her words making the witch blush. "No, because I'm gonna brief her on what we found out so far, and I know she won't be paying attention as long as you're around. Plus, I want to have a little heart-to-heart with her before I bring her here, just to make sure she really won't do anything stupid…"

"Fine", the redhead sighed after a moment, making herself comfortable on the couch, "I'll wait here, then…"

"Good girl", Buffy winked, chuckling when Willow pouted; she smiled at her best friend once more, then left the apartment and headed for the hotel, fighting down the tiny voice of doubt which kept telling her that this was a bad idea and that it would be best to keep the couple apart until all of this had been solved.

* * *

It didn't really surprise the Slayer that she found Pat in the bar of the hotel, clutching a glass of whiskey; Willow had told her once that after one of their few serious fights, the demon was prone to calm her nerves down with that kind of drink, even though she never had enough to actually get drunk.

"Is this seat taken?" she innocently asked once she had moved up to the black haired woman; to her amusement, Pat jumped visibly before she turned on the barstool to look at her, rising an eyebrow the moment her gaze fell on her.

"Buffy", she then greeted, sounding a bit surprised, "what are you doing here?"

"I've come to get you back", the Slayer replied, not bothering with beating around the bush; Pat's second eyebrow joined the other one in its high position, and she took another sip of her drink before she replied. "I thought you're with me on that one… It'd be better if I stayed away from Willow until this has been settled."

"I used to be", Buffy gave back, momentarily wondering how the demon could know this – before she nearly slapped herself as she realized that, of course, Willow had told her.

"But I don't see the point anymore", she went on, giving the taller woman a cheerful smile. "You're miserable, Willow is miserable, and we soon might go to fight a guy Giles calls a fallen priest, which probably won't be easy. And for that, I need both you and Willow fully focused, so I figured it'd be smarter to let the two of you stay together until we go to fight… She's sure you won't hurt her, and to be honest, I believe her, after all, you didn't even punch her when you were amnesiac."

"I hope you're right", Pat sighed out after thinking about this for a moment, taking another sip of her drink before she spoke on. "Believe me, I want to be with her again, but I'm kinda afraid of what I might do…"

"You won't harm her", Buffy reassured her, all at once as sure of this as Willow had been, "I don't think you could even if you wanted to. And once we figured out where to find this priest, you can unleash all your aggressions on him and his cronies! Speaking of this priest, you're not feeling some kind of force telling you to go somewhere, right?"

"What?" Pat gave back, flabbergasted by this sudden change of topic; she briefly shook her head to clear it, then rose an eyebrow again, giving the Slayer a curious look. "What are you talking about?"

In response, Buffy quickly explained what the group had found out so far; once she had gotten done, Pat shook her head, appearing slightly surprised as she ran one hand through her hair. "Actually, no, I'm not feeling anything… Maybe working with you has made me not only good, as Giles said, but _too_ good."

"That's bad, actually", Buffy gave back, causing the demon to give her another flabbergasted look, the blonde quickly explaining herself. "Well, if you had felt it, you could have led us there. That would have made finding that guy and kicking his butt much easier."

"Well, you do know a vampire who probably didn't become tainted by the good side as much as I did", Pat pointed out, making Buffy grimace in reply – Spike had been willing enough to help her in the past when she had asked him nicely enough and had paid him properly, but he kept making dirty references to the times when she had shared his bed – or the granite slab in his crypt – with him, something she didn't like to be reminded of, not anymore.

"Guess we'll have to ask him, then", she stated, glad that the black haired woman didn't ask why she hadn't thought of this so far, not wanting to explain her former attachment to the platinum haired vampire; Pat just shrugged, then nodded, finishing her whiskey afterwards before she rose from the barstool, a mischief glint in her eyes all of a sudden.

"I'm sure you'll excuse me now", she stated, the Slayer smiling at her next words, "I have to go and see a certain, red-haired witch…"

"Have fun, but meet the rest of us at the Magic Box tomorrow at one", Buffy smirked in reply, then watched how the demon turned and started to walk off – before she suddenly stopped and came back, causing the Slayer to rise an eyebrow, a giggle escape her when Pat handed her a key card and removed several bills from her wallet, pressing them into her hand as well.

"Check out for me please, will ya?" she stated, making the blonde woman giggle again while she nodded, the demon giving her a brief smirk before she turned and finally walked off for real, Buffy watching her go with a slight smile on her face, all at once sure that she had done the right thing.


	10. Chapter 10

Ever since Buffy had left to get Pat back, Willow had been sitting on the couch, counting the minutes; she had tried to distract herself with a book at first, then had given up when she had realized that she only had been staring at the pages for minutes without reading a single word. After the book failure, she had switched on the TV, and had zapped through the channels, without finding anything even remotely interesting; finally, she had given up on that as well and now was in the kitchen, observing the knives there as she tried to figure out which one Buffy had used to kill the ugly monster men, the Slayer to her dismay not having told her about that so far, probably not even remembering anymore which knife it had been exactly.

Grumbling, she kept staring at the shiny blades, trying to spot blood or gross monster man goo on one of them; then, finally, the sound she had been waiting for came from the door, distracting her from her ponderings as she rushed into the hallway, just in time to see Pat open the door and enter the apartment. With a happy squeal, Willow threw herself into the arms of the taller woman; while she had been waiting, she had been afraid that not even Buffy might be able to convince Pat that it would be okay to come back, only now that her girlfriend was there admitting to herself how scared she really had been of this.

"You're back!" she stated the obvious, smiling from ear to ear; chuckling, the demon tightened her embrace around her and pulled her closer, greeting her with a gentle kiss before she replied, her hands tenderly caressing the witch's back. "You sound as if I've been gone for years…"

"It surely felt that way", Willow grimaced, then pulled Pat inside fully, kicking the door close carelessly, not bothering to lock it; recognizing the glint in her eyes for what it was, the taller woman just smiled before she swept Willow up into her arms, making her giggle with surprise and delight as she wrapped her arms around the neck of her loved one, the glint in her eyes increasing as she was carried into the bedroom, everything else forgotten not too soon afterwards.

* * *

"This is what I get for bringing them back together", Buffy grumbled out in the next day, at half past one, throwing another impatient look at her watch; she rolled her eyes, then let herself slump back into her seat, holding back the urge to groan when Anya felt like sharing some of her wisdom with the rest of the gang. "Well, it's not surprising, if Xander and me had been kept apart for so long, I would be locked in the bedroom too with him now, and have countless orgasms."

Next to her, Xander just sighed – by now, he didn't even bother to tell his girlfriend anymore that this wasn't considered exactly fitting behaviour for the public, not even if the public in question consisted of his closest friends, knowing it wouldn't lead anywhere anyway.

"I'll call 'em", the Slayer now grumbled to herself, getting up from her seat and making her way to the store's phone, ignoring Anya calling after her that she'd have to pay for the call; quickly, she dialled the couple's number, frowning to herself when even after fifteen rings, no one had answered.

All at once, the horribly knowledge that something was wrong filled her; it wasn't just a feeling, as if someone who wouldn't know her very well might have pointed out, but something she knew, one of the many side effects of being the Chosen one. Without bothering to wait any longer, she hung up the phone, then turned to look at the rest of the gang; the expression on her face was enough to make them all get up and grab their jackets, even Dawn, despite the knowledge that usually, Buffy stopped her from tagging along when she thought it might be dangerous.

To her surprise, her sister did no such thing this time; instead, she just hurried back to the table and put her jacket on as well, then nodded at the rest of them, shaking her head when Xander asked if they shouldn't bring weapons.

"I'm quite sure it's too late to fight", she then stated, surprising them all – usually, if she had such a sudden burst of knowledge about something being wrong, a fight followed not too long afterwards.

"How do you know?" Giles demanded to know, making it Buffy's turn to be surprised since normally, he just trusted her instincts; she threw him an irritated look, then just shrugged, sounding defiant when she replied. "I just do. You can take some weapons along if it'll make you feel better, but you won't need them. Trust me."

For a few very long moments, the Watcher held her gaze, the rest waiting in breathless silence for his decision; then, without another word, he turned and left the Magic Box, the others quickly catching up with him, the worry they could see on the Slayer's face rubbing off on them as they hurried towards the street where the apartment building was located.

* * *

Since the knowledge that something horrible had happened still burned on Buffy's mind, she didn't bother to ring the doorbell, but simply kicked the door in, making the rest wince as they all hoped at that the Slayer was right and that they wouldn't end up interrupting an intimate moment between the witch and the demon; the second they all entered the apartment though, it became clear that this wouldn't happen, the bit they could see of the living room through the open door making it obvious that a rather wild fight had been going on here.

"Stay behind me", Buffy ordered the rest, despite her certainty about the fact that by now, the danger was over; still she clenched her fists as she slowly walked down the hallway, then entered the destroyed living room. Just like when Pat had been amnesiac and evil and had come to this place to kidnap Willow, the TV had been thrown off the small table it had been standing on and laid on the ground, shattered; the couch was still standing, but the table which had been in front of it had been smashed, the scorch marks on the wood showing that the demon had been taking part in the fight as well.

With all her senses cranked up as high as possible, the Slayer took in the scene, fighting to keep her calm as she looked at the destroyed living room; then, an unfamiliar shape to her right caught her eye, and she turned, her breath getting caught in her throat moments later. Slumped against the wall, Pat half sat, half laid on the carpeted ground, clearly unconscious; the wall behind her was visibly dented and cracked, showing with how much force she had been thrown against it, the blood on her face and clothes just another indicator for the fact that she had lost miserably against whoever she had been fighting.

For a few more seconds, Buffy just kept staring at her, shocked – during all the time she had known the demon, she never had seen her defeated like that, her blood running cold at the thought of how powerful their new enemy might be if he could even take someone as strong as Pat out; then, she regained her senses and called for the others, the group joining her in the living room moments later, their eyes simultaneously widening when they saw the knocked out demon.

"She's badly hurt", Buffy stated what was quite obvious already anyway, "Xander, help me to get her on the couch…"

With those words, she moved to pick Pat up by grabbing her beneath her arms, hooking her hands into the taller woman's armpits; nodding, Xander grasped her feet, then they lifted her and carried her the short distance to the couch, carefully lowering her on it before they took a few steps back, looking at each other afterwards, not sure what to do next.

"She can heal herself, can't she?" Anya threw in, moving closer to the unconscious demon and looking at her with a raised eyebrow, "so there's no need to worry!"

"But she can only do that when she's awake and demoned out", Buffy reminded her, throwing the knocked out woman another concerned glance, "and I hope she'll do so fast, we need to hear what happened here…"

"And what happened to Willow", Dawn added, making the Slayer nod with a grim expression on her face; just to be sure, she sent Anya to search the rest of the apartment for the witch, knowing that it was a waste of time though and that whoever had come here and had done this to the demon had taken the redhead along when they had left again. To her relief, Anya obeyed her for once without talking back and left the living room, calling out Willow's name as she moved to the kitchen and from there to the bathroom; while the ex-demon was on her futile search, the Slayer focused on Pat again, asking herself how bad she really had been hurt and how long she had been out cold already when they had found her.

If it had been anyone else, the first thing she would have done by now would have been to call an ambulance; since she knew about the healing powers of her best friend's lover though, she refrained from doing so, also admitting to herself that she was worried about what might happen if the doctors somehow realized that Pat wasn't exactly human – by now, several of the hospital staff had realized that weird things were happening in Sunnydale, but as far as Buffy knew, none of them ever had been confronted with it from face to face.

"I might know a way to wake her up", Giles now gained her attention, making her look at him curiously; removing his glasses, he stepped closer to the demon's unconscious form, looking at her for a few moments before he focused on Buffy again, his voice sincere as he went on. "I've read about this once, but I'm not sure it'll work."

"Just try it", the Slayer urged him on, wondering why he seemed so reluctant; in response, he put his glasses back on, then nodded – before he shocked everyone by bending over the demon, grasping her earlobe between the nails of his thumb and index finger and squeezing as hard as he could. To the astonishment of everyone else, it took only seconds until it showed effect; the eyes of the black haired woman practically flew open, and she let out a surprisingly loud howl, Giles pulling back his hand quickly while Buffy moved in to keep the demon down as she tried to sit up on the couch.

"No, stay down", she firmly ordered, glad when Pat seemed to recognize her, as she immediately slumped back on the couch; on the other hand, this also might have been caused by her injuries, something the Slayer didn't want to think at the moment though.

"Willow", the black haired woman now brought out, her voice clearly showing in how much pain she was, but still she tried to sit up again after a moment, "the priest… they took her… I couldn't stop them…"

"I know", Buffy gave back, once more pushing her back down to keep her from sitting up, "and we'll find her… But first, you'll demon out and heal yourself, you're no good as long as you're so badly hurt."

Having to admit that Buffy had a point there, Pat nodded, then asked the Slayer to help her up; it took some groans and swears, but finally, the demon was standing, the others quickly moving back as she demoned out, the flicker of the flames which soon engulfed her throwing dancing shadows on the wall, several more groans and yelps coming from her as she healed, once more making it obvious how seriously she had been injured.

Finally though, the healing was done, the demon returning to her human form the moment the last cut had closed and the last bone had mended; she grimaced, clearly still feeling some of the pain, then looked at Buffy again, her voice and gaze now filled with barely suppressed rage as she spoke up. "Let's go, _now_. I want to kick some holy butt."

Smiling back at her, Buffy nodded, then glanced at the rest of the group; they all nodded their agreement as well, and together, they left the apartment, Giles, Xander and Anya taking Dawn home while Pat and Buffy parted from them to find Spike, hoping that the vampire hadn't given in to the call so far – and that it was reaching him strong enough to let him lead them to wherever Willow had been taken.


	11. Chapter 11

Willow had to admit that she was surprised when they didn't take her to some dingy cellar or cave, as she had been expecting, but to a church in the outskirts of the town; the priest who had hurt her loved one so much was leading the way, two of his ugly monster men dragging the witch along between them as they followed, two more behind them to make sure she wouldn't get to escape even if she should be able to free herself from their grasp.

She knew that she probably should be scared out of her mind, especially after all the stuff the strange priest had been saying while they had taken her here, things about tainted blood, the darkness and the perfect sacrifice; still she found herself unable to feel afraid, her worry for Pat and the question if her loved one had survived weighing too heavy on her mind to let her think of anything else, even if it was the danger she might be in herself.

With a shudder, she remembered how the priest and his ugly cronies had barged into the apartment, disturbing the peaceful time she had been sharing with her lover as they just had been getting ready to leave and meet the others at the Magic Box; at first, it even had seemed as if Pat might be able to fight them off, aided by some spells Willow threw at the monster men, but then the priest had joined the fight, shocking and scaring the witch with how strong and brutal he was.

Without much trouble, he had picked the demon up by her throat, smacking her across the face twice hard enough to send blood splashing from her lips and nose; when she had tried to fight back, he had thrown her against the living room table hard enough to make the wood break beneath her as she landed on it, then had picked her up again and had hurled her against the wall, Willow remembering with painful clarity how the wall had cracked and how her loved one had slumped down against it, not moving anymore after she had taken that blow.

Still the priest had kicked her two more times, with a smile on his face that was just cruel enough to appear slightly insane; afterwards, he had nodded at his cronies, and they had dragged Willow off, keeping her from uttering any spells by hitting her whenever it seemed as if she'd try to do magic.

"You should clear your pretty head of your thoughts about that creature of Hell you're living with, in sin if I might add", the priest now stated, giving her a smirk while his monster men dragged her down the church's middle aisle and to the altar; it wasn't hard to tell that said altar had been desecrated, the chalice which normally had been used for the wine smashed and broken, the cross which had been hanging over the altar gone, the statues and candleholders ruined.

The altar itself had been covered with strange, warped symbols Willow couldn't quite place, even though she knew she should be able to, after the countless hours she had spent studying witchcraft; she found herself unable to look at the symbols for longer than a few seconds though, as their sight made her eyes water and her head hurt, making it clear to her how powerful they were.

"I didn't kill it", the priest went on as he stopped in front of the altar, looking down on it, running his hands over the smooth surface, "such hell spawn is hard to kill."

"Her", Willow daringly gave back, making the taller man turn and look at her with a raised eyebrow; forcing herself to hold his gaze, she continued, glad to keep the tremble of fear out of her voice. "She's not an it, and not a hell spawn."

"It's a demon", the priest replied, clearly unimpressed by her words, "and if I should happen to come across it again, I'll unleash the Lord's wrath on it. Now quit talking, my little lamb, you'll be prepared for the sacrifice now."

"Sacrifice?" the redhead repeated, unable to keep the fear out of her voice any longer; the priest had been rambling about sacrifices and blood while she had been taken to this godforsaken place, but she had been too distressed to pay much attention, something she was regretting deeply now.

"Yes", the priest smiled while his men started to drag the witch over to the altar, ignoring her feeble struggles, "didn't you listen on the way here? It's not polite to make a priest repeat himself, witch, but I'll make an exception for you… Seeing you, or better said your blood, will be my path to glory and salvation."

Smiling in that slightly insane way again, he stepped closer to her, reaching up with one hand to touch her cheek; she flinched back from his touch, and his smile widened – before he suddenly raked his nails over her skin, causing her to cry out at the unexpected pain, hot blood trickling down her cheek moments later, the priest giving her another smile while he moved his hand up to his mouth, the redhead's stomach turning when she watched him lick the blood – her blood – off his fingers.

"You've been with us before", he then stated, his hand dropping back down to dangle at his side, "on the dark side, and you killed… But then you stepped back into the light. This is a pity, I'm sure you would have made a great ally for my purpose here, but on the other hand, it's lucky, as well – your mind and soul might have returned to the light, but the darkness is still in your blood, tainting it… I can taste it."

With those words, he touched her cheek again, wiping some of her blood off and licking it from his finger with obvious joy; he sighed, almost ecstatic, then regained control over himself and smiled at her, the fear he could see in her eyes making his smile widen.

"You're perfect", he let her know, the admiration in his voice only helping to increase her fear, "your sacrifice… your blood… is perfect…"

He sighed with obvious pleasure, then looked at his cronies again and nodded; moments later, they dragged her behind the altar, her eyes widening when she saw what was waiting for her there.

"No", she brought out as they forced her down, two of them holding her down while the other two at first bound her arms, then her legs, a strangled sob escaping her as they lifted her, her heart racing in her chest as she fought to hold back her tears, hoping and praying that her friends soon would figure out something was wrong and would come to her aid, not sure if she'd be able to get out of this on her own.

* * *

"You know I'm only doing this to piss the guy you want off", Spike reminded Pat and Buffy for the tenth time, the demon holding back an annoyed grunt while the Slayer just sighed; the vampire threw her a short glance from underneath the blanket he had wrapped himself up in to keep the sunlight from reaching his skin, then shrugged, giving her a sardonic smirk afterwards.

"I don't like if someone tries to tell me what do to, even if he does so with a bloody call right into my mind", he added, something he also had said before; Buffy just nodded in reply while Pat lit up a cigarette beside her, giving her best to ignore the vampire as he went on talking about how annoying it had been to feel that call in his mind and how bravely he had fought to withstand it.

For the thousandth time, the demon cursed herself for her failure to protect Willow, knowing she'd never forgive herself if something should happen to the witch; the thought of how strong that priest had been still was disturbing, but on the other hand, she knew about his abnormal strength now and had been able to warn Buffy about it as well, the Slayer not all too worried about it – after all, she was stronger than the average human as well, and Pat had her demonic strength, the blonde sure that they'd be able to handle that guy together.

"Our first priority is to get Willow out", Buffy now spoke up next to her as for once, Spike had shut up, distracting her from her thoughts and worries and making her look at the smaller Slayer beside her. "Then, we can figure out who this guy is, what he wants and how to stop it. I'm taking a rather daring leap of faith here, but I'm quite sure that he'll need Willow for whatever he wants to do, so if we get her out, we'll probably buy some time, time which we'll be able to use to figure out how to beat him."

"Yeah", Pat agreed after a moment, finishing her cigarette and throwing it aside carelessly, "but don't forget how strong he is, we shouldn't underestimate him. His cronies are a piece of cake, but he himself… Well, let's say I bit off more than I could chew with him."

"Because he surprised you with his strength", Buffy insisted, not liking it to hear the demon talk like that. "Now that you know – that we know – we'll be prepared. And don't forget, we don't want to him fight him now, we just want to get Willow out."

"I don't think we'll have much of a choice", the demon pointed out in reply, raising an eyebrow at the blonde woman, "I doubt he'll just let us waltz in there and take Willow."

"Not likely", the Slayer had to admit, "but for now, all one of us needs to do is distract him long enough so the other one can get Willow out. I should be able to handle him long enough so you can take care of Willow, I am the Slayer, after all."

To her relief, Pat nodded after a moment, then lit up another cigarette; afterwards, they just walked next to each other in silence, following Spike as he led them to the outskirts of the town, both of them worrying about the redhead and hoping that they'd be there in time to get her out alive and alright.


	12. Chapter 12

"Here we are", Spike stated a while later, gesturing at the old and clearly abandoned church building he had led them to, "you'll excuse me if I don't join the fun, I'm not all too keen to get inside that bloody building."

Next to him, Pat gulped, then muttered "Me neither"; this caused Buffy to throw her a surprised glance, the demon shrugging helplessly in reply before she gestured at the building, sounding a tad apologetic when she spoke on. "Me, demon. That building, church. Two ingredients which don't mix all too well."

"You won't freak out on me though, right?" Buffy demanded to know while Spike rolled his eyes, then turned and left without bothering to say another word; ignoring him, the Slayer kept her gaze focused on Pat, relieved when the taller woman shook her head. "No, I guess I'll be able to handle it… Something's not alright with that church, the repulsion I feel isn't as strong as it should be…"

"Good to know", Buffy gave back, then focused on the church, studying it with the eyes of the Slayer; she told Pat to keep quiet, then moved closer to the building, the demon close behind her, the two sneaking to the back, checking for a door there and, once they had found it, carefully testing if it was open.

"Alright", Buffy whispered as soon as she had made sure that the church could be entered through the back, "you'll go in here, and I'll take the front door to distract him… Wait until you hear the sounds of fighting, then enter, alright?"

"Alright", the demon whispered back, then watched Buffy go, the Slayer out of sight the moment she had rounded the corner; holding back the urge to smoke another cigarette, the demon started waiting, straining her ears as she listened for the sounds of fighting coming up inside, giving her best to keep her worry about Willow out of her mind so it wouldn't distract her from the task at hand.

* * *

Willow had sworn to herself that she wouldn't scream when, after just ignoring her and mumbling in front of the altar for quite some time, the priest had turned to look at her, a dangerous looking ritual dagger in his hand; the glint in his eyes had made it clear that he would hurt her now, maybe even kill her already, the insane smile on his face again while one of his monster men moved up to stand beside him, a silver bowl in his burned and scarred hands.

"You'll have to hang in there a bit longer", the priest now stated as he moved closer to her, carefully rolling up her blouse to expose her stomach, "it is not time to perform the rites, not yet… For now, we'll just need a bit more of your blood."

Gritting her teeth, Willow couldn't stop herself from letting out a breathless whimper when the dagger cut into the vulnerable, soft skin of her tummy, blood soon dripping down and into the bowl the monster man was holding up; once more, she tried to free herself with a spell, as she had done several times since she had been tied, and once again, it showed no effect, the ropes not reacting the slightest to the commands she was whispering at them.

"I told you", the priest sighed as he pulled the dagger back, then moved it a bit lower and cut her again, the whimper which came from her a bit louder now as her self-control was slipping, fresh tears filling her eyes as more blood slowly trickled down her stomach, "your spells won't do you no good with those ropes. They have been strengthened by the Lord, your dark arts won't help you…"

"Maybe her dark arts won't, but I will", a well-known voice came up behind him, causing Willow's head to snap up while the priest turned, irritated; smiling at him, not letting it show if the witch's situation was freaking her out, Buffy stood in the middle of the aisle, her arms crossed over her chest, her gaze focused on the priest as she went on. "And I'll start helping her by kicking your robed ass, if you don't mind…"

"What an unpleasant interruption", the priest gave back, shaking his head while he gingerly lowered the dagger on the altar, then turned away from the bleeding redhead and giving the Slayer a scolding look. "It is not polite to interrupt holy rites, young lady… Didn't they teach you this in church?"

"Never been much of a church-goer", Buffy shrugged in reply, not even bothering to look behind her as she brought up her fist, knocking the monster man who had tried to sneak up on her off his feet with the well-placed punch, "but as far as I remember, the rites didn't involve what you're doing to my friend here."

Sighing, she grabbed the second crony who tried to get her from behind, throwing him against the nearest bench hard enough to make it topple over with quite some noise, hoping that Pat would hear that outside and rush in to get Willow out as the priest snarled at her, then started to advance, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes now filled with anger and hate as he moved closer to the Slayer, the blonde steeling herself for the upcoming combat, giving her best to keep her eyes away from her best friend, knowing that she couldn't allow herself to be distracted by worry for her now.

* * *

Pat didn't know how long she had been waiting when finally, the sound of breaking wood came, making it clear to her that the fighting hard started; once more telling herself not to lose her head in case something had happened to Willow already, and that she could worry and fret over her as soon as they had gotten her out, she took in a deep breath before she pushed the door open and snuck inside, making sure that she didn't make too much noise. Her experience as an assassin came in handy for that, not a sound coming from her as she moved through the rather small backroom, quickly finding the door which would lead into the main hall of the church; it still made her feel a bit uneasy to be in such a building, but she didn't let that distract her, telling herself that she could handle being in a church if it was necessary to get Willow out of danger and into safety.

Carefully, she pushed the door open, quickly seeing that it opened close to the benches on the right side of the aisle; hurriedly, she glanced to where the sounds of the fighting were coming from, relief momentarily filling her when she saw that the priest was standing with his back to her, battling it out with Buffy, the Slayer clearly standing her ground against the man, despite his abnormal strength. Then, Pat glanced to her left, and her heart nearly stopped at the sight which was presented to her, her trained gaze taking in every cruel detail; she had known that Willow was in trouble when she had woken up and had realized that the priest and his men had taken her, but she never would have thought that someone could do something like this to her loved one, to someone as kind and caring as the redhead.

Right behind the desecrated altar, they had crucified her, had bound her to a large wooden cross; her stomach had been cut at least once, it was hard to tell with all the blood on her skin, her head hanging low, convincing the demon for a horrible second that she was dead – before she noticed the rather laboured rising and falling of her loved one's chest, her mind bringing up cruel details about how victims of crucifixion suffocated slowly, alarming her as she realized that she couldn't have an idea how long Willow already had been enduring this. This finally brought her out of her shocked paralysis, and she started moving, still giving her best not to make any noise as she hurried over to the cross; when she reached it and started to work on the rope around the witch's ankles, the redhead looked up, her eyes briefly widening when she saw who had come to her aid.

Quickly, Pat lifted a finger to her lips, signalling at her girlfriend to keep quiet; weakly, Willow nodded her head in reply, her relief clearly showing on her face while the demon finished untying her feed, then looked around a bit helpless, clearly not knowing how to reach the bonds holding her girlfriend's arms to the wood. Finally, with a clearly visible shudder, the black haired woman figured out how to solve her problem; she held her breath as she climbed up on the altar, looking as if she expected a bolt of lightning to strike her any moment, gritting her teeth while she started working on the knots, cursing the man who had made them as they were quite professional and hard to undo.

"Hold on there", she whispered, hoping that Willow could hear her, not daring to raise her voice, "I'll have that stupid knots undone in a second, then I'll get you—"

The shockingly loud slamming noise behind her automatically made her turn her head, her eyes widening when she saw Buffy slumped against the massive main door of the church, struggling to get to her feet with not much success, the priest approaching the altar at high speed, glaring at the demon as he came hurrying down the aisle.

"Get off the altar, spawn of hell!" he shouted, sounding so angry that it was almost absurd, "how dare you desecrate the altar of the Lord!"

"I don't think I was the first one to desecrate that altar", Pat gave back, her fists flaring up as she jumped off to meet the priest, all at once determined to make him pay for the beating he had given her earlier that day. "I'd feel much more uncomfortable if that would be the case", she added, ducking the first punch of the priest and countering with a rather fierce one of her own, a satisfied smirk appearing on her face when his robe caught fire and he let out a shout of both anger and surprise. Seconds later though, the smirk was wiped off Pat's face when the flames went out without an obvious reason; she quickly got over her surprise though, managing to duck yet another punch and responding with a kick aimed at the priests legs, dismay filling her again when he easily avoided it with a quick jump – before his foot lashed out and caught her at the chest, sending her backwards and against the altar, a low grunt escaping her as her back hit the wood.

Behind the priest, she could see that Buffy still was trying to come to her feet, clearly dazed by the hit she had taken; moments later, the demon had to focus on her opponent again as he launched another punch at her, quickly making her duck, the altar splintering when his fist punched into the wood. Snarling, he tried to pull his arm back out, with no success though; smirking, Pat came to her feet again, clenching her fists as she gave him a cruel look, the flames flickering around her hands increasing and spreading over her forearms as her anger grew. "Seems like you're stuck, huh? Time to return the smackdown you gave me in our—"

Once more she was cut off as suddenly, the other arm of the priest shot out, his hand once more closing around her throat; with a smile, he pulled his arm out of the hole easily and straightened up, lifting the demon off her feet, choking sounds escaping her as his grip around her throat cut off her flow off air.

"I knew it would be easy to fool such hell spawn as you", the priest spat, Willow watching in horror how he tightened his grip around her girlfriend's throat even further, the black haired woman's face reddening slowly. "The Lord gives me the power to deal with your kind…"

"You'll be surprised at what my kind can do to people like you", Pat pressed out in reply, grabbing his arm with both hands afterwards, once more setting his robe aflame, the priest obviously not minding it much though, just giving her another one of his insane smiles, causing her to grit her teeth. "And I'll… wipe that smirk off your face", she went on, trying to focus all her strength on her fire so she could burn him enough to make him let her go, despite the unexplained protection he clearly had against her flames, "you'll see…"

"Big threats for a little demon like you", the priest gave back, clearly unimpressed, his smile widening; with a snarl, Pat let go of his arm in response – and grabbed his face with both hands, causing him to cry out in pain as the fire unexpectedly was against his skin, burning him, the sudden pain making him let go of the demon all at once. Her first instinct was to just grab her throat and cough, but Pat forced it down, somehow managing to stay on her feet; with her teeth grit and her eyes now glaring brightly red, she stepped closer to him, bringing her fists up again, her voice dripping with acid as she spoke up, each word accompanied by a fierce punch she landed against his stomach and face. "I'm glad I wiped that smirk off your face! Looking at it was making me sick."

In response, he slowly looked up at her, said smirk once more appearing on his face – before he grabbed her fist as she aimed another punch at his face, yanking her closer to him with a burst of his abnormal strength, grabbing her at the throat once more and keeping her immobile, his voice barely above a whisper as he replied. "As the Good Book says… And if thine eye offend thee… pluck it out."

With a casual gesture, he flicked her glasses off, causing them to land on the floor, one of the lenses shattering; as the realization about what he intended to do to her started to sink in, Pat's eyes widened before she squeezed them shut, to no avail though, the blinding pain rushing through her moments later, her agonized scream echoing through the church while the priest just smiled, a cruel, insane glint in his eyes.


	13. Chapter 13

In all the time Willow had been with Pat and had seen her fight, had seen her get hurt, she never had heard the demon scream like that, not even during that one time when she had used a spell to restore her lover's memories and the black haired woman had shouted terribly as they all practically had been rammed back into her mind. Thanks to the position of the priest and her girlfriend, the redhead couldn't see what was happening to her, but she knew it had to be something horrible; at the other end of the aisle, Buffy was coming to her feet at last, with a shocked expression on her face, her wide eyes and suddenly pale skin just another indicator that something terrible was done to her loved one.

To the Slayer's dismay, the priest had noticed her getting up again as well, since he turned his head to look at her; smirking again, he let go of Pat, the demon slumping to the ground, one hand clutching at her face as she let out helpless, pain-filled sounds, Willow watching with horror how she rolled over after a while, then somehow managed to get up on all fours, her head hanging low and keeping the witch from seeing what had been done to her as she started to crawl away from the priest, without noticing fully what she was doing, obviously in shock, towards the cross the redhead still was bound to.

"Pat!" she called out despite how short her breath was by now, mortified when the taller woman didn't react to her at all; by now, she had come close enough to let her realize that the sounds she was making were actual words, her voice so full of pain that it tore Willow's heart apart. "Oh God… oh God it hurts, it hurts…"

At hearing this, all of her own pain suddenly was forgotten as deep rage filled her, rage at the priest for hurting her loved one like this; for the split of a second, her eyes flashed up black as she realized that maybe, she couldn't undo the ropes holding her – but she could break the wood, and this was just what she did, muttering a single word, the crack of the wood echoing through the church moments later.

"Don't you dare!" the priest shouted, his attention briefly diverted from his fighting with Buffy, the Slayer taking the chance given to punch him as hard as she could, sending him against one of the benches, the piece of furniture toppling over as he fell against it, making him lose his balance and causing him to fall to the ground in a flurry of robe, arms and legs; deciding that it was time to get out, Buffy ignored him and rushed over to where Willow had fallen to her knees in front of the broken cross, not bothering to untie her, but simply tearing the ropes, her eagerness to get out clearly showing through her voice as she asked the redhead if she could walk.

"I'll be fine", the witch wheezed in reply, still finding it hard to breathe after the time she had spent bound to the cross, "help Pat…"

Nodding, Buffy still took the time to help her to her feet, then rushed over to the demon, stopping her aimless crawl by grasping her and picking her up on her arms, knowing that she wouldn't be able to walk after what had been done to her.

Behind her, she could hear the priest struggle to his feet, holding back the urge to let out a harsh curse; she urged Willow to get outside first, pointing the door Pat had used out to her, making sure to keep the redhead from seeing her loved one's injury, not wanting her to freeze up in shock; to her relief, Willow obeyed her at once, knowing that they had to retreat as fast as possible, her steps slightly staggering as she hurried to the door and rushed outside, the Slayer close behind her, the angered screams of the priest following them as they stormed out of the church and off into the night.

* * *

Buffy managed to keep Willow from getting a look at Pat's face until they had put a safe distance between the church, the priest and themselves; only once the Slayer could be sure that the mad clergyman wasn't following them, she allowed herself to slow down, then to stop, carefully lowering the demon on the ground, her stomach turning as she once more got a good look at what had been done to her.

Behind her, Willow went down on her knees, exhausted from running after she already had had trouble with breathing thanks to being tied to a cross for so long; the wounds in her stomach hadn't made this any easier, but all of this was forgotten as her gaze fell on the shivering form of her loved one, worry once more filling her heart.

"What did he do to her?" she demanded to know as she moved closer, Buffy reacting just a bit too late to keep her from seeing it, "let me see what… Oh, God…"

Her voice cracked at the last words as she finally saw what had the priest had done, saw the blood on Pat's cheek and throat and the bloodied ruin which was left of her left eye; with tears filling her eyes, Willow pulled her loved one into a tender embrace, holding her close to herself, caressing her hair with one hand while the other one kept her from slipping out of her grasp.

"I'm sorry", she whispered to the groaning demon, the tears now slowly rolling down her cheeks, Buffy watching the scene helplessly, "I'm so sorry, Sweetie…"

"We should get her into the apartment", the Slayer finally spoke up, making Willow nod after a moment; carefully, the blonde woman took Pat out of Willow's arms and picked her up again, carrying her all the way back to the apartment, the witch walking along next to them in silence, unable to tear her gaze away from the horrible result of the priest's vile attack on her loved one.

* * *

"I called Giles and told him everything, he'll look into it", Buffy stated quite some time later, slowly entering the bedroom; without turning to look at her, Willow nodded, fully focused on washing the blood off her girlfriend's face, the sight of her ruined eye still causing her stomach to turn, but she forced herself not to look away, telling herself that this was her fault, that this never would have happened if she had thought of breaking the wood faster instead of wasting her time and energy on the ropes.

"How's your tummy?" Buffy now asked, moving over to the bed and sitting down; on the way back to the apartment, Pat unsurprisingly had lost consciousness, and hadn't woken up again so far, something which probably was a blessing, considering how much her wound had to hurt.

"Just shallow cuts", the witch replied, now throwing the Slayer a brief glance before she focused on her girlfriend again, still finding it hard to believe that this really had happened. "Nothing compared to what happened to her…"

"She can heal it, right?" Buffy gave back, looking at the black haired woman with concern; in response, Willow let out a shaky breath, her voice trembling just enough to let the blonde notice when she replied. "I… I don't know… This is bad, isn't it? Maybe it's too bad even for her to heal, and it'll be my fault because all I did was wait for her to rescue me, when I could just have broken that stupid cross, but instead I just let him do this to her, if she's lost her eye for good now it'll be my fault and—"

"Willow", Buffy interrupted her as she realized how close her best friend was to hysterics and to hyperventilating, "stop it… This is not your fault, okay? The only one to blame is this crazy priest, and he'll get his share for what he did, but none of it is your fault. Alright?"

After a few seconds, the witch nodded, letting out another shaky breath; focusing on her girlfriend again, she finished cleaning the blood off her check and throat, throwing the bloodied cloth she had used into the bowl with warm water afterwards carelessly, feeling close to tears once more as she looked at her girlfriend.

"Come on", Buffy now softly spoke up next to her, placing a tender hand on her shoulder, "let me have a look at those cuts… They should be cleaned, and you can't do much for Pat now, just let her get some rest…"

After a moment, the witch nodded, getting up from the bed; together, the two made their way into the bathroom where Buffy quickly found the first aid kit in one of the cupboards, disinfecting the cuts which had been inflicted to the redhead's stomach before she carefully bandaged them, hoping that her assumption about the wounds not needing stitches had been right.

"There", she stated as soon as she had gotten done, "all done…"

"Thanks", Willow mumbled in reply, throwing such a sad glance at the bedroom afterwards that it clenched up Buffy's heart; before she had the chance to say anything though, a groan came from said bedroom, the redhead jumping up from her seat on the edge of the bathtub within seconds and hurrying out of the bathroom, Buffy following her as she made her way to the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed again, grasping Pat's hand and holding it tenderly.

Another groan came from the demon in response to the touch, then her good eye slowly opened; immediately, it was clear that she still was in horrible pain, the eyes of the witch filling with tears once more as she looked at her girlfriend, her heart aching for what Pat had to go through now.

"Willow", the demon now croaked, even managing to give her a weak smile despite her pain, "are you… alright…?"

"I'm fine", the witch gave back, finding it hard to believe that this was the first thing her loved one would ask when she was so badly hurt herself, once more touched by how deeply the demon was devoted to her. "Don't worry about me… After what he did to you…"

"Hurts like Hell", the black haired woman mumbled in reply, gritting her teeth afterwards, "son of a bitch…"

"Can you heal it?" Willow demanded to know in reply, squeezing her hand tenderly; to her dismay, Pat didn't reply all at once, taking a few moments before she finally answered, her voice trembling just enough to let both Buffy and Willow notice. "No idea…"

"Let's find out", the Slayer replied, moving closer to the demon afterwards and helping her up from the bed; for a moment, the redhead felt like protesting, then held it back, telling herself that it would be cruel to let her girlfriend suffer from that pain longer than necessary, no matter how much she was swaying on her feet once she stood.

Quickly, Buffy took a few steps back so she wouldn't be in danger of getting burned when Pat demoned out; the taller woman did so a few moments later, both the Slayer and Willow watching with held breath as they waited to see if she'd be able to heal that dreadful wound – or if her eye was gone for good, the damage done by the priest too bad even for her exceptionally high healing abilities.


	14. Chapter 14

"I'll make him pay for this", Buffy promised half an hour later, standing at the window with her fists clenched tightly; behind her, Pat and Willow were sitting on the bed, the demon's head in her hands, the witch beside her having both arms around her and trying to give her some comfort, ignoring her own distress about the situation.

At first, it had seemed as if Pat's healing would be good enough to deal with even such a dreadful wound; when she had returned to her human form though, it had become clear that this had been too much even for her ability to regenerate, the eye socket now scarred and healed, the eyeball itself still gone though, making the demon a rather gruesome sight. "We'll figure out how to hurt him, and then I'll make him pay…"

Turning to face the couple, she gave them both a chance to see the anger on her face; she took a deep breath to calm herself down, then moved closer to the distressed Pat, placing one hand on her shoulder and making her look up again at last, the blonde giving her best not to flinch back at the horrible sight of her ruined eye.

"I promise", she added, the black haired woman nodding after a while; without a word, she got up from the bed afterwards and moved to the window, opening it before she found her cigarettes and lit one of them up, her hand trembling visibly when she brought the cancer stick to her mouth.

After exchanging a short, worried glance with Buffy, Willow got up as well and moved over to her loved one, tenderly touching her arm, relieved when the demon looked at her, then put her free arm around her, pulling her a bit closer to herself. Sensing that the couple needed some privacy, the Slayer left the room, not even bothering to make up an excuse; for a while, the two just stood at the window in silence, Pat smoking and Willow watching her, the demon being the first one to speak up, her words surprising the redhead as something like this had been the last thing she had expected to hear. "Guess I'll need to get an eye patch now."

Not knowing what she should reply to this, all the redhead could do was look up at her; then, she made herself smile weakly and nodded, fighting back her tears once more as she looked at the rough scar tissue where just hours ago, a perfectly healthy eye had been.

"Maybe I can come up with some spell", she then stated, "and heal you… After we defeated this guy, maybe it'll be easier once he's dead, you never know…"

"And if not, I'll get used to it", the taller woman gave back, once more surprising her girlfriend – if something similar had happened to her, she probably would have been a crying mess by now, lamenting about the loss of an eye and about how her life would be hindered in the future by this.

"You seem to take this quite… easily", Willow thus carefully stated, not sure if it was a wise thing to say, but on the other hand aware that she might not have much of a choice – if Pat was bottling her feelings about what had happened to her up, and only put up that act of bravery so she wouldn't worry, it would end badly sooner or later.

"It's not like I have much of a choice", the demon sighed out after thinking about her loved one's words for a while, giving her a miserable look afterwards. "Seems as if that eye is gone for good, so I'll have to live with having just one left. I guess I can count myself lucky that he didn't cave both my eyes in."

"Buffy will make him pay for this, as she said", Willow gave back, turning slightly so she could put both arms around her loved one, glad when immediately, Pat returned the embrace. "And once we got rid of this guy, I'll see if I can do anything to help you…"

The demon nodded in reply, then lit up another cigarette, her chain-smoking one of the few, but clear signs that she was upset; giving her best not to let her own dismay about what had happened show, Willow smiled at her reassuringly, caressing her back tenderly, her gentle touch and loving smiles helping to take most of Pat's distress about her lost eye away.

* * *

When they arrived at the Magic Box in the next afternoon to talk about the whole situation, everyone already knew what had happened; since she didn't want to parade her ruined eye to the world outside, Pat had been wearing sunglasses on the way to the store, not taking them off when she entered, the greeting she muttered at the group not half as enthusiastic as it usually was.

"I got something for you!" Anya announced the moment Pat and Willow had sat down at the round table they always used for their Scoobie meetings, getting up from her seat and hurrying over to the counter; she rummaged around there for a while, then finally re-emerged, both hands behind her back, clearly eager to hide whatever she had gotten from behind the counter while she made her way back to the demon, stopping in front of her.

"Here", she proudly announced, holding out her right hand; to the black haired woman's astonishment, she was presenting an eye patch, the patch itself and the strings attached to it made of black leather. "I tried to find a black and red one, so it'd fit your hair, but it was impossible", Anya helpfully let her know, giving her a cheery smile; oddly touched, Pat accepted the present, raising an eyebrow at what the ex-demon said next. "I also got you this, Xander told me not to, but I thought it'd be cool, somehow!"

With those words, she moved her left hand from behind her back; next to the black haired woman, Willow let out a strange noise which either was a held-back giggle or a sound of disbelief as her eyes fell on the pirate hat Anya was holding out. For a few seconds, Pat just looked at it, the rest watching in breathless silence as they tried to guess how she'd react; then, the demon smiled, accepting the hat and looking at it before she placed it on the table in front of her, her gaze focusing on Anya again afterwards. "Thanks, I appreciate that… But I think I'll stick to the eye patch without the hat."

"Okay", the ex-demon shrugged, picking the hat up again and putting it on her own head, to the amusement of everyone, "Xander told me you wouldn't want the hat, so I'll keep it, I think it looks good on me, doesn't it?"

"It does", the demon agreed, clearly amused; she smirked at Anya for a moment longer, then looked at Willow again, holding up the eye patch. "Help me with that?"

"Sure", the witch immediately gave back, making the demon remove her sunglasses; despite the fact that they already had known what had been done to her, Xander and Dawn couldn't hold back a wince at the sight of the empty, scar-covered eye socket, Buffy and Giles looking rather uneasy as well, Anya being the only one who didn't react with shock or disgust, having seen and done much worse things during her time as a vengeance demon. Quickly, Willow tied the eye patch over the ruined eye, to the relief of everyone covering it up; sitting back, the witch gave her loved one a critical look, then smiled, obviously trying to light up the mood with what she said next. "Now you're my little pirate… Even without the hat."

"Little?" Pat gave back, rising an eyebrow at her, "I'm taller than you, don't forget."

"Let's get back to the matter at hand, shall we", Giles threw in before Willow had the chance to reply, making all of the group look at him, something he ignored though as he was focused on Pat, taking off his glasses while he leaned forward and gave her a curious look.

"Tell me what you remember about this priest", he demanded, causing the demon to give him a slightly irritated look, the black haired woman crossing her arms over her chest as she replied. "I remember everything, thanks a lot, that bastard caving my eye in didn't mess with my memory… even though I'd like to forget how much that hurt. Anyway, he was kinda immune to my fire, I mean, it did hurt him, but not for long… and when I set his robe on fire, the flames just went out again after a while, for no apparent reason."

Giles nodded in reply, as if he had been expecting this; he gave the demon another curious look, making her wonder briefly what else he wanted to hear before she told him about how freakishly strong the priest was once more, rising an eyebrow again at what the Watcher demanded to know in response. "Did he say anything before he… did this to your eye?"

"Actually, he did", the demon gave back, grimacing at the painful memory, still remembering well how bad it had hurt when the priest's thumb had taken out her eye, the bright flash of pain which all at once had dominated her whole world. "He said something like… if thine eye offends thee, pluck it out. Makes sense?"

"Perfect sense", Giles gave back, putting his glasses back on before he continued. "It's from…" "…the Bible", Willow finished with him, causing the rest to look at her in surprise, the witch shrugging in response to the stunned looks she received for her unexpected display of knowledge. "What? It's a rather well-known quote, from the Book of Matthew. Many people know it."

"I didn't", Pat shrugged, "I just thought he was being full of pathos."

"You're a demon, Sweetie", the redhead pointed out in reply, "no one's expecting you to know the Bible."

"I'm actually surprised you could fight at all, seeing that he'd taken Willow to a church", the Watcher now spoke up again, once more gaining the attention of the rest of the gang. "You are a demon after all, as Willow just pointed out, so being in a church should have had a much more… unsettling effect on you."

"Well, that was what I was expecting when I saw it was a church", Pat shrugged in reply, reaching for her pack of cigarettes before she remembered that Anya and Giles wouldn't let her smoke in the store and stopped herself, focusing on the Watcher once more – only to be distracted by Anya when the ex-demon put a glass bowl down in front of her, smiling at her cheerfully.

"Today, you're allowed to smoke in here!" she then stated, surprising everyone, even Xander, "because you lost your eye, I decided I'd be extra-nice with you!"

"Um, okay", Pat replied, getting out her cigarettes after all and lighting one of them up, Giles shaking his head, but not protesting; clearing his throat, he returned the attention of everyone to himself, leaning back into his seat, his voice thoughtful as he spoke up. "So he's more or less resistant to your fire, and did something to the church which made it less… well, holy, I suppose."

"He desecrated the altar", Willow now threw in, remembering the strange symbols on said altar, "so it probably affected the church as well… or he did something to it as a whole, so the vampires and demons can come there when his call grows too strong to be ignored."

"What did he do to the altar?" Giles demanded to know, making the witch clear her throat before she replied, sounding slightly embarrassed when she answered him. "Well, it's hard to tell… He put some symbols on it, but I don't really remember what they looked like, I couldn't look at them for longer than a few seconds without getting a headache…"

"You're a witch and you can't remember those symbols?" Anya demanded to know, sounding highly irritated; Pat threw her a warning look, something she still could do quite well with just one eye, while Willow crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, sounding defiant when she replied. "Well, I didn't have much time to look at them before they crucified me, and after that, I was too busy with breathing to pay much attention. And anyway, as I said, looking at the symbols for too long gave me headaches."

"It must have been something quite evil", Pat now threw in, before Anya had the chance to make another nasty remark, "because I could step on that altar with no problems. If it'd still been… well, holy I guess, that never would have been possible, I would have puked all over the place or something."

"The symbols must have been very powerful if they had this effect on you, Willow", Giles stated after a few moments, seconds he had used to get the mental image of Pat puking violently in the church out of his mind; he rose from his seat and moved to one of the book shelves in the back, quickly finding the thick volume he wanted and returning to the table, leaving through the book as he went before he put it down in front of the witch, the rest noticing that he was keeping his eyes off the page. "Are those the symbols you saw?"

Just like back in the church, the redhead's eyes started to water after looking at the symbols for longer than a few seconds, the headache following not shortly afterwards; tearing her gaze away from the book again, she nodded, focusing on the Watcher again while he snapped the book shut, clearly not comfortable with leaving the symbols out in the open for everyone to see longer than necessary.

"Are you sure?" he asked as soon as he had put the book away again, taking off his glasses and beginning to clean them, a clear sign for distress; shrugging, Willow gave him a helpless glance, shifting on her seat before she replied. "Well, I'm not one hundred percent sure, I didn't see them so well as I said, but they had the same effect on me like the ones in the church, so…"

"This is much more dreadful then than I imagined", Giles sighed out after a moment, putting his glasses back on and looking at the rest of the gang gravely, his gaze moving from one to the next before it settled on Buffy.

"The priest is not just collecting the blood to bind the demons and vampires to his will once he opened the seal", the Watcher went on, the rest listening in breathless silence as they realized how serious this might be. "He's gathering them as an army, to fight for what he'll summon through that seal… And if Willow is right about the symbols, he'll summon the Devil himself."


	15. Chapter 15

"The Devil", Buffy echoed after a few seconds, disbelief in her voice, raising an eyebrow as she held the gaze of her Watcher. "You mean, like in the Bible? The clichéd horned figure with a trident, hooves and a tail?"

"Maybe not looking exactly like that", Giles gave back, sitting back down and taking off his glasses once more while Pat lit up another cigarette, clearly uncomfortable as well. "If my assumptions are right, he won't summon the Devil as an actual entity, but will channel the… essence, which will invade and take over a person, and use that body for whatever plans it might have."

"So we just find out whom he wants to use and make sure he doesn't get his hands on that person", Buffy suggested, wondering if this was enough; in response, Pat cleared her throat, her voice grave when she replied, before Giles had the chance to say anything. "We don't need to find that person, we already know whom he wants."

"We do?" Xander demanded to know, sounding a it lost; looking at him, the demon nodded, taking another drag of her cigarette before she reached out with her free hand and grasped Willow's, looking at her.

"Me?" the witch realized after a second of surprise, her eyes widening when her girlfriend nodded gravely in reply; gulping, the redhead considered this, then had to admit that her loved one probably was right, especially considering all the stuff the priest had said to her before she had been crucified.

"Well, he'll have a hard time to get her then", Buffy stated after a moment, giving her best friend a reassuring smile. "We'll protect you from him, you know that, right?"

"I know", Willow gave back, making herself return the smile the Slayer was giving her, "but… Well, you've seen how powerful he is, and how ruthless."

With those words, she glanced at her loved one, her heart aching once more at the sight of the eye patch and at the thought of how much this must have hurt; then, Buffy spoke up again, gaining her attention once more. "I know, and this is why we'll be prepared. You can't go back to the apartment anymore until we dealt with this guy, he knows that you live there, so I suggest that both Pat and you move in with Dawn and me until this has been settled."

"Good idea", the demon agreed, Willow nodding her agreement as well; quickly, it was settled that the couple would pick up their most needed things from the apartment as fast as possible, Giles speaking up once more after this had been decided. "This is a good plan indeed, but we have to keep in mind that Willow might not be the only one who's… suitable for what the priest wants to do. So, we should not only focus our energies on figuring out how to stop him despite his abnormal strength, but also on finding out if there's any other suitable person around to serve as Satan's vessel."

"And how are we supposed to find that person?" Anya demanded to know, giving the Watcher a slightly annoyed glance as she spoke on. "There are not many other witches around who went evil and nearly destroyed the world, unless I missed something."

"We'll figure it out", Buffy gave back, the confidence in her voice shutting the ex-demon up, "we always do, right? For now, we should focus on keeping Willow safe and on figuring out how to stop him, maybe we can do that before he actually starts the ritual and channels the Devil. Now that we got Willow out of his hands, he might have to find another suitable person as well, and that could take him some time."

"Buffy's right", Giles agreed, giving the Slayer one of his rare smiles, "but we still ought to keep our ears and eyes open, just in case. For now, it's important to keep Willow safe and to work out how to harm this man."

"We better go and get your stuff then", Buffy suggested in response, looking at the witch and the demon; they both nodded, rising from their seats, the Slayer promising Giles that she'd call him as soon as they'd be at her house before they left the Magic Box together and headed for the apartment, their thoughts circling around what they had learned – and what it might mean for Sunnydale and the rest of the world if they'd be unable to stop it in time.

* * *

"Alright", Buffy stated two hours later, "you two can have my mom's room, it has the biggest bed in the house. Just try to be quiet in case you want to get… close at night, alright?"

In response, Willow blushed brightly while Pat just smirked and nodded; Buffy returned the smirk, then led the couple into said room, gesturing at the cupboard which stood at the wall, her voice just showing a tint of emotion as she spoke on. "The cupboard's been emptied, so you can store your stuff in there…"

"Thanks", Willow gave back, taking a step closer to her friend and placing a reassuring hand on her arm, "it means a lot to me… to us… that you let us stay in this particular room…"

Buffy just smiled and nodded in response, then took a deep breath before she let the couple know she'd give them some privacy so they could unpack; after giving them another smile, she left the room and closed the door behind herself while Pat already threw the suitcase she had packed on the bed and opened it, getting out her clothes and moving them into the cupboard.

After a moment, Willow did the same, hurriedly storing her own clothing in the cupboard as well before she got out the books she had brought along and placed them on the nightstand; she picked one of them and placed it on her lap before she started leaving through it, the demon sitting down next to her after she had gotten done with putting her clothing away as well and giving her a curious look. "What are you looking for? A certain spell, or are you just curious?"

"A certain one", the witch gave back, "but I'd rather not talk about it, not yet, I need to see first if I remembered this correctly and if it can be done… But I can tell you this much, if my memory is correct, it might help us a lot with defeating that crazy priest."

"I'll give my best to restrain my curiosity then", Pat smiled in reply, the witch giving her a grateful look; she focused on her book again while the demon excused herself and left the room, making her way downstairs with the intention to step out for a smoke, only to be stopped in mid-step when she saw Buffy in the kitchen, the Slayer standing at the counter and staring out of the window without really seeing anything.

For a moment, the black haired woman was torn between just ignoring the blonde's obvious distress and trying to help; then, she told herself that it'd be rather nasty to just ignore it and moved into the kitchen, carefully speaking up, slight concern showing through her voice. "Hey. You alright?"

"I guess so", Buffy sighed out after a moment, turning to look at her and giving her a wry smile. "It's just… I'm not even sure how to word that… But that was my mom's room, and giving it to the two of you is like, now she's really, definitely gone, I know it's stupid and I've known before that she's gone, but…"

"We can take another room if it'd help", Pat offered in reply, not sure what else to say – she had learned how to deal with her feelings for Willow quite well by now, but such other thoroughly human emotions like grief were still something strange for her every and now then. With a slightly happier smile forming on her face now, Buffy shook her head, her next words making the demon smile slightly as well. "Nah, the only other room where you might be able to sleep then would be the living room, and you know what Willow says about couches and your back…"

"Those are highly exaggerated rumours", Pat gave back, making the smile of the Slayer widen; glad that she had managed to cheer the blonde up, the demon finally gestured at the front door, giving the blonde another smile as she spoke up again. "Well, I wanted to get outside to have a smoke when I saw you brooding over the sink… Feel like tagging along?"

"Sure, why not", Buffy shrugged after a moment, leaving the kitchen together with Pat, the two making their way outside where the demon lit up a cigarette, Buffy giving her a curious look as soon as she had blown the first cloud of smoke up into the sky. "How come Willow's not with you? You two always seem to be attached at the hip."

"She's looking up some spell", Pat explained in reply, smirking briefly at the "attached at the hip" thing, taking the time for another drag of her cigarette before she continued. "And I figured I'd best leave her alone for that, she needs silence so she'll be able to concentrate properly."

"Yeah", Buffy immediately agreed, grimacing slightly at the memory which popped up in her mind, speaking on and explaining her reason for her facial expression before Pat had the chance to ask. "I once startled her when she was trying to figure out a spell, back in our dorm when we still lived there together, and in response, she made her bed slide all the way over to the door and nearly crushed me."

"Ouch", Pat smirked in reply, chuckling slightly afterwards; Buffy just smiled and nodded, then watched how the demon put out her cigarette by crushing it on the sole of her boot before the two made their way back inside, the Slayer thankful for the distraction Pat had provided from her still painful grief about her mother and the demon glad that she had managed to take Buffy's mind off that sad topic.


	16. Chapter 16

When it was time for dinner, it was quickly decided that they'd order pizza; after her research, Willow didn't feel like cooking, Pat was a disaster in the kitchen and Buffy and Dawn weren't in the mood to stand at the oven either. Thus, the Slayer called the pizza service, ordering a large pizza with the toppings they had agreed upon; afterwards, she inspected her DVD and VHS collection, suggesting one of the movies to the rest afterwards, glad when they all immediately agreed.

Once she had popped the DVD into the player, Buffy sat down on the couch, next to the snuggling couple; since said couch wasn't big enough for four people, Dawn had taken the comfortable armchair, her feet propped up on the table, something her sister usually didn't allow, but she let it pass for that evening, not feeling like having that particular discussion with the teenager again.

"Let's hope that pizza service is fast", she stated as soon as she had made herself comfortable, "I'm quite hungry."

As if to underline her words, her stomach grumbled audibly, causing both Willow and Pat to look at her with a raised eyebrow; the blonde had the grace to blush in reply, then focused on the movie pointedly, causing the couple and her sister to do the same after smirking at each other for a moment longer. For a while, the room was quiet, the only sounds coming from the TV as the movie played; then, a ring came from the door, signalling that the pizza service had arrived, Buffy immediately jumping up from her seat and rushing to the front door, the smell of melted cheese and tomato sauce drifting into the room a minute later.

"Thank Goodness", Pat sighed, her stomach now rumbling audibly as well; next to her, Willow giggled, then nodded and rose from the couch, making her way into the kitchen to get plates while Buffy carefully carried the pizza carton into the living room and set it down on the table, the smell increasing the moment she opened it. With her mouth watering, Dawn leaned forward, almost grasping one of the slices before she remembered that no plates had been provided yet; impatient, she looked into the direction of the kitchen, opening her mouth to call out for Willow, the sound of breaking ceramics echoing through the house though before the teenager could get a sound out – followed by a pain-filled cry, the sound being enough to make Pat jump off the couch and rush out of the living room to the kitchen, Buffy close behind her.

Another sound of pain caused them both to speed up, their hearts racing as they burst into the kitchen; there, Willow was leaning heavily on the sink, one hand clutching at her stomach, bloodstains blooming on her shirt, the demon's eye going wide at the sight before she rushed to her girlfriend's side, her voice full of worry as she spoke up. "What happened? Did you cut yourself? Willow, what happened, talk to me!"

"The cuts", the redhead panted out in reply, interrupting herself with a groan before she spoke on, "they just opened up again… Oh God, it hurts!"

"How is this possible?" Buffy brought out, shocked; before anyone had the chance to say something though, Pat suddenly screamed as well, slumping down on her knees, clutching at the eye patch with one hand, the Slayer shocked to see a trail of blood trickling out from beneath it and down her cheek seconds later.

"Dawn!" the blonde snapped as soon as she had gotten over shock, "call Giles, now! Tell him to come here as fast as possible!"

"Yes", the teenager immediately called back, to the Slayer's relief not coming into the kitchen and not arguing about it; moments later, Dawn was on the phone with the Watcher while Buffy knelt down next to Pat and grasped her shoulders, once more feeling awfully helpless as the demon screamed in pain again, the Slayer's mind running wild as she tried to figure out why this was happening to her friends.

* * *

A while later, Pat laid on the couch, an ice pack over her ruined eye, her good one focused on Willow, the witch sitting in the armchair with Buffy tending to her wounds once more; there hadn't been much the Slayer had been able to do for the demon, except for the ice pack, and it at least helped to dull the pain, something the black haired woman was more than glad about.

"Giles is on his way", Dawn reassured them all for the third time, wondering what was taking the Watcher so long; looking up at her, Buffy nodded, her facial expression remaining serious as she focused on Willow's cuts again, dismayed to see that they looked as fresh as they had when they had been inflicted on her back in the church.

"This is creepy", the witch now mumbled, throwing her loved one a worried look; once again, Pat had used her demonic abilities to heal the dreadful ruin of her eye, the empty socket now once more covered with scar tissue, the attempt to return the eye to perfect health once more not working out. "It felt just like back in the church, when he cut me… How is this possible?"

"Don't know, but I know that it was the same for me", Pat muttered in reply, finally moving the ice pack aside and putting the eye patch back on after she had sat up, still looking quite distraught, but at least her pain had faded to a bearable throbbing. "I could practically feel his thumb going into my eye once more, I hope Giles will be able to figure this out quickly – I don't want to go through this for a third time."

As if this had been his cue, the front door opened and Giles entered, immediately spotting the group in the living room; he didn't even take the time to take off his shoes or jacket, but hurried over to them immediately, sitting down on the couch next to the demon and dropping the thick book he had brought with him on the living room table.

"Took you long enough", Pat greeted him, by now sounding rather grumpy; the Watcher through her a short glance, then apparently shrugged it off, since he just opened up the book he had brought and skimmed through it, his voice as calm and composed as always when he spoke up while he kept looking for the right page. "Tell me again what happened, please."

"It was awful", Willow gave back while Buffy finished tending to her wounds by bandaging them up once more, "it felt just like it did in the church, when he cut me… I swear I could even feel the dagger again! And Pat said it was the same for her…"

The demon nodded when Giles threw her a questioning glance, making the Watcher sigh – before he finally found the page he had been looking for and turned the book so both Buffy and Willow could read it. "It means that he applied more blood to the seal", the elder man stated while the two women studied the text on the page, "the blood he took from you, Willow… It put up a… connection between him and you, and it seems that what he did to you, Pat, accomplished the same."

"Oh great", Pat grumbled in reply, gaining the attention of the Watcher once more, "that means we'll have to go through this every time he drips more blood on that stupid seal? Swell."

"Well, if it calms you down, he probably will run out of blood soon, or he'll have taken enough from Willow to open the seal anyway", Giles replied, not surprised when the demon raised an eyebrow at him.

"And that is supposed to calm me down? You didn't forget what will happen when he does open that seal, right?" she demanded to know, crossing her arms over her chest, Willow giving her a concerned look as she by now knew her well enough to tell when she was getting angry, just like right now.

"No, of course I did not", the Watcher now replied, sounding slightly indignant. "So", Buffy threw in before Pat had the chance to come up with another smart remark which might lead to an argument between the Watcher and her, "he keeps his work on opening the seal then… Does that mean he found another… vessel for the Devil?"

"I'm afraid so", Giles sighed out, removing his glasses and starting to clean them, his voice grave as he continued. "It's a pity we don't know yet whom he decided to use, but at least this puts you out of any imminent danger, Willow. Still we should come up with a plan to defeat him as fast as possible, and stop him before he can begin the ritual."

"I might be able to help with that", Willow gave back, a slight smile on her face as they all gave her a curious look, the Watcher nodding at her to make her speak on.

"Well", she continued after sorting her thoughts for a moment, "Pat told me that her fire did hurt him, until he got it under control somehow. Now, if we could make her fire stronger, it might weaken him enough to allow Buffy the killing blow."

"And you have a spell to do that, right?" the demon smirked in reply, immediately figuring out that this had been what Willow had been researching earlier that day; smiling back, the witch nodded, her smile fading though as she spoke on. "The bad thing is that the spell's effect is immediate, so we can't do it here and then just go to the church. We'll have to do it there, and you'll have to keep that priest and his cronies away from us until it is done."

"_We'll_ have to do it?" Giles demanded to know in reply, giving the redhead a curious look. "We as in Pat and you together?"

"Yes", Willow replied, causing the demon's good eye to widen in response – before she shook her head, sounding slightly dismayed when she spoke up. "I'm not sure this is a good idea, Sweetie, I haven't really done magic before…"

"But you're a demon", the witch pointed out in reply, unimpressed by her lover's dismay. "You're naturally inclined to magic. It shouldn't be a problem for you, all you need to do is hold my hands and chant the counterpart to my chant, then it'll be fine."

"The pronounciation is not an important point, is it?" Pat grimaced in reply, making the rest smile at how fast she had given in, all of them knowing that there was no way she could decline anything Willow wanted her to do. "My Latin isn't as good as it used to be a hundred years ago or so."

"I'll go through it with you before we do the spell", the redhead reassured her in reply, "then it'll be just fine. You trust me about this, right?"

"I trust you about everything", the demon immediately gave back, ignoring the fact that Buffy, Giles and Dawn were there to hear her next words. "I trust you with my life."

Touched deeply by those words, all Willow could do was give her a loving smile in reply; the demon smiled back at her, then Giles cleared his throat and gained their attention as he started to work up a plan for their attack on the church, the rest of the group throwing their ideas in as well, the plan soon taking shape and reassuring them all that maybe, things wouldn't end badly after all.


	17. Chapter 17

"Let's start with an easy spell first", Willow suggested an hour later, back in the bedroom; after the plan had been finished, Giles had left to inform Xander and Anya about it, while Buffy and Dawn had retreated to their rooms, the Slayer knowing that they had to get some proper rest before they'd face the priest and his cronies in the next day. "So I can see how talented you are… Then I'll know how much of the spell we can share."

"What if I'm not talented at all?" Pat demanded to know reply, sounding worried again; clearly nervous, she ran one hand through her hair, giving the witch another dismayed glance before she spoke on. "It's been decades – literally – since I did any magic, and even back then, I was just a support. I've never had such big part in casting a spell."

"If you can't help at all, I can do it alone", Willow reassured her, taking her hand and giving it a tender squeeze. "It'd be much easier and probably much more effective if we'd do it together, though. Because, if everything goes as planned, the spell won't just increase the heat and power of your fire, but it'll also let me add some magic to it… It should be strong enough to blast him all the way through the church and maybe even through the wall."

"Sounds good", Pat smirked in reply, nodding when Willow asked her if she felt up to doing an easy spell now; they both moved from the bed and sat down on the carpeted floor, the redhead putting up candles around them and the demon lighting them up, Willow taking a tender hold of both her hands as soon as the last candle had been set aflame and Pat had put out her fire, both of them taking in a deep breath afterwards.

"Okay", Willow then stated, "what I want to try is easy enough… It's a very basic spell, I've done it once before, it'll ionize the atmosphere. I'll tell you the words and then we'll do it together, okay?"

"Okay", the demon agreed, listening closely to the words Willow carefully pronounced afterwards; when she had gotten done, she made the demon repeat the words to make sure she had got them right, then took in another deep breath before she asked Pat if she was ready, the black haired woman nodding in reply.

Grasping her hands tighter, Willow nodded at her, both of them starting the chant moments later; it didn't take long until the air around them started to crackle as the spell took effect, the redhead smiling slightly to herself as she realized that Pat indeed was naturally talented at doing magic and that the spell she wanted to do with her to increase the power of her fire shouldn't be a problem for the two of them at all.

* * *

"Guys?" Buffy called out as she made her way down the dark hallway, to the former bedroom of her mother, carefully feeling her way towards the door – a minute ago, all the lights had gone out with a flash, and she highly suspected that the practice spell Willow had wanted to do with Pat was responsible for that.

"Are you alright in there?" she demanded to know while she opened the bedroom door, poking her head into the room; moments later, her eyes widened as her gaze fell on the two, the light coming from the candles illuminating the room just enough to let her see the effect the spell had had on them.

For a few seconds, she just stared, the couple looking back at her with slight embarrassment – before she started to laugh heartily, the sight of the two women's hair standing straight up being just too amusing to let her keep the laughter inside.

"What did you do?" the Slayer finally brought out between two bursts of laughter, unable to take her eyes off the sight; Willow's shoulder-length hair already was quite amusing to look at as it rose towards the ceiling, but in Buffy's eyes, Pat easily beat that, her much longer hair standing up just as straight, the ends almost reaching the ceiling when she came to her feet.

"Sorry about the lights", Willow apologized behind her, getting up as well, "I forgot that this happens when that spell is cast…"

"Seems you also forgot about that happening to our hair", Pat smirked, turning to look at her and gesturing at said hair, making Buffy giggle once more as she just couldn't get enough of the sight; all the laughing and giggling had been enough to gain Dawn's attention, and she appeared in the doorway behind her sister a few seconds later, her eyes doubling in size when she saw Pat and Willow – before she snorted laughter as well, shaking her head to herself.

"What did you guys do?" she demanded to know as soon as she had calmed down enough; smiling as well, the redhead shrugged, moving up to her girlfriend – mindful of the still burning candles – before she explained, her words making Dawn giggle even more. "To see if Pat's any good at doing magic, I did a spell with her to ionize the atmosphere… I guess it worked."

"Quite well", Buffy chuckled, looking at the demon's gravity-defying hair once more; in response, the black haired woman tried to smooth it down, obviously having enough of being an attraction, the hair refusing to stay down though, immediately rising back towards the ceiling once more the moment she took her hands off it.

"How long is this going to last?" she demanded to know as soon as she had realized that there was nothing she could do; shrugging, Willow giggled as well, sounding as amused as Buffy and Dawn when she replied. "Should be over in a few minutes, then the lights will go back on as well. At least we know now that you'll do well with the other spell, Sweetie."

"It won't have such side effects, right?" Buffy demanded to know in response, interrupting herself by giggling once more before she could speak on. "I don't think I'll be able to fight properly if something like this happens."

"No worries, that won't be the case", Willow reassured her, making her nod; still with a smirk on her face, she wished the couple a good night, then turned and left the room, dragging Dawn outside with her despite the teenager's protest about how she wanted to take a picture first, the words cut off when the Slayer closed the door behind her sister and herself.

"If she does show up with the camera, I'll burn it", Pat muttered while she sat down on the bed, throwing a suspicious look at the candles – it wouldn't be a problem for her if the house should catch fire, but she doubted that Buffy would be happy then.

"I doubt Buffy will let her", Willow smirked in reply, sitting down next to her and making her smile by placing a tender hand on her upper leg. "No matter how much the sight amused her."

"Well, I have to admit that it does look quite funny", the demon smirked in reply, making the witch giggle and nod; the two beamed at each other, then shared a gentle kiss, the lights coming back on just as they pulled apart again.

"Thank Goodness", Pat muttered as she felt her hair settle on her shoulders and down her back again; giggling, Willow nodded, then moved a bit closer to her on the bed, giving her a smile which only could be called seductive while she moved one hand to slowly open the buttons of the demon's shirt, one by one.

"You know", she almost purred, the sound of her voice causing her loved one to raise an eyebrow, "doing magic sometimes has this… rather arousing effect on me… as it had right now…"

She winked, making the demon smirk after a moment; the glint in her good eye was enough to tell Willow that the spell had had a similar effect on her – or that it was just her usual, quite high level of lust, the witch not caring much about the reason though as she leaned in once more to kiss her girlfriend deeply, none of them noticing anymore how the candles flickered and the flames died down a short time later.

* * *

In the next morning, they all met at Buffy's house to have a hearty breakfast – courtesy of Dawn, since the other three were not much good in the kitchen – and to go through their plan once more; they all knew that something might easily go wrong and that one or even all of them could end up getting killed, but no one mentioned this dreadful possibility, not even the usually so blunt and direct Anya.

"Alright", Buffy stated as soon as the plan had been confirmed as good once more by everyone else, "off we go then… Let's get the weapons and kick some robed ass."

Nodding in perfect unison, the rest of the gang rose from their seats; together, they made their way into the living room where Buffy kept a selection of weapons in one of the cupboards, the Slayer handing them out to the gang, knowing everyone well enough to be aware of who preferred which kind of weapon. As always when he was part of a fight, Xander used a crossbow, not being one who liked to get into hand-to-hand combat; Anya received a spear longer than she was, her preferred kind of weapon, while Giles was given a sword and Pat received one of the oversized battle axes she liked so much.

Willow was the only one who didn't want a weapon, not even a dagger she might use to defend herself against any demons who might end up too close to her; all of them knew though that she didn't really need a weapon, her magic strong enough and under control well enough to allow her using it for her defence without endangering herself of becoming addicted or slipping off to the dark side again.

"Ready, everyone?" the Slayer asked as soon as they had received their weapons, making them nod; seriously, Buffy looked from one to the next, then nodded as well before, without another word, she turned and marched out of the house, the rest following in solemn silence, clutching their weapons as they made their way down the street.

To any onlooker, they would have made quite the sight, marching almost parade-style and clutching weapons, weapons which obviously were real and not just part of some strange costume; mysteriously enough though, they encountered no one as they walked towards the town's outskirts where the church was located, making Buffy wonder briefly if maybe, the town's population was aware that something strange was going on and thus all stayed inside.

The well-known odour of cigarette smoke reaching her nose distracted her from her thoughts, and she was surprised to find Pat moving up next to her; apparently, the demon had asked her girlfriend to stay behind, since Willow was walking behind Xander and Anya, talking to Giles about something the Slayer couldn't quite make out, the blonde figuring out quickly though that it most likely was about the spell she was planning to do with Pat.

"Got a moment?" the demon now asked, the serious expression on her face making Buffy nod at once; sighing to herself, the black haired woman took another drag of her freshly lit cigarette, keeping her voice low when she spoke on so the rest of the gang wouldn't hear her. "Look, I know we never talk about the possibility that one of us… or all of us… might die, but I'm afraid I have to address it this time…"

"Go ahead", the Slayer gave back after a moment, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to hear what the demon had to say; on the other hand, she figured that it had to weigh on Pat's mind rather heavily if she brought it up, especially if she came to her about it and didn't talk to Willow instead.

"Well", the demon went on after another rather long drag from her cigarette, making it clear to Buffy that she was quite distraught about whatever was on her mind, "that spell Willow's planning to do might leave her weakened, and I'm not sure if I can protect her properly, what with my left eye gone and everything – I'm not really used to it so far, and it'll be the first time I'll fight since that priest… did that. So, just in case I should fuck up and get killed… look out for her, will you?"

"Of course", the Slayer immediately agreed, giving the taller woman a reassuring smile afterwards. "But I'm sure it won't be necessary", she went on, "you'll surely do fine, and if that spell works out the way we hope it will, there won't be much danger, anyway."

"Yeah", the demon agreed after a moment, returning the smile Buffy was giving her, "but just in case…"

"I'll always look out for her", the Slayer promised in reply, making Pat nod again; she gave the blonde another smile, then dropped back again to Willow's side while Buffy tried to keep the thoughts of failure and death the demon's words had brought up in her mind away, not succeeding as well as she wanted to though.


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: The following chapter features rather graphic scenes, so it might not be suitable for minors. Also, I'd like to mention that the inspiration for the spell casting largely came from the song "Memento Mori" by the band Kamelot, so thanks to those dudes :) The song's on YouTube for anyone who's interested, the particularly inspirational part came from the Mephisto / Helena segment.

* * *

"What a great start", the Slayer muttered when they finally had reached the church and had snuck up to it, using trees and bushes around for cover, her gaze fixed on the two ugly, big demons guarding the large main door, "guards… If I didn't know better, I'd say he's expecting us."

"Maybe he is", Giles gave back, his voice down to a whisper so the guards wouldn't hear him, "if that connection he seems to have to both Willow and Pat works both ways…"

"That would mess up a lot of our plan", the witch added, frowning; next to her, her girlfriend nodded, then focused on Xander, a slight smirk on her face, that special kind of smirk she only ever seemed to show when she got ready to kill something. "Lend me your crossbow for a moment?"

"Sure", the young man shrugged, giving her said crossbow and a second bolt when she asked for it; with her smirk widening, the demon got the weapon ready, then aimed at one of the demons, her voice low as she mumbled "Let's see if my aim is as good as it used to be" before, to the astonishment of everyone, she clamped the second bolt between her teeth, her finger curling around the trigger moments later.

Without even noticing, everyone else held their breath as she just laid perfectly still, her brow furrowed in concentration; then, she pulled the trigger, and while the first bolt flew and hit the demon at the right, she already removed the second one from between her teeth and reloaded with stunning speed, sending the second bolt at the other demon before the creature had even realized that his partner was dead.

"…wow", Buffy brought out after a few moments of stunned silence, perfectly putting the thoughts of everyone else in words, "if you aim that good with one eye gone, I'm not sure I want to know how you shot before."

"Actually, it wasn't much different", Pat smirked in reply, handing the crossbow back to the still stunned into silence Xander, "I always used to squeeze my left eye shut when I aimed, was a bad habit I guess, but it came in handy now."

"For sure", the Slayer smirked, then focused on the church again; the two guard demons had died so quick and quietly that apparently, no one had been alarmed, giving them the perfect chance to enter undetected and keep the element of surprise on their side, even if the evil priest might know that they were coming – the connection surely didn't go deep enough to let him know their every move, after all.

"All right", Buffy whispered, clutching her longsword tighter, "in we go then… Remember the plan, guys, Xander, you go up the stairs on the right, on… whatever those little balcony thingies are called in a church, Anya, Giles, you stick with me, try not to get killed, okay? Keep them away from Pat and Willow as long as necessary so they can do the spell, then when they're done, you'll duck for cover and I'll move in for the killing blow. Everything clear?"

The rest nodded their agreement, Buffy giving them all a reassuring smile, then rose from the bushes they had been hiding in, making the others get up as well; together, they marched towards the main door of the church, clutching their weapons tightly, speeding up into a run as they were close to the door before they all burst into the church together, all of them knowing that within seconds, they'd be in a fight for their lives – and for the whole world.

* * *

To the relief of the whole gang, the priest hadn't brought more than six demons along, demons which now attacked the group consisting of Buffy, Anya and Giles as they stormed towards them; as he had been instructed, Xander rushed up the stairs to one of the small balconies, quickly loading the crossbow and firing it after careful aiming, to his delight managing to hit one of the demons in the leg and making him fall, this giving Anya the chance to impale him with her spear.

Holding back the urge to call out to her and congratulate her, since he didn't want to gain the attention of the remaining four demons – one of them killed off by Buffy by now – Xander reloaded his crossbow and took aim once more; briefly, he glanced down to the main door of the church where Pat and Willow stood in the middle of the aisle, between the rows of benches farthest in the back of the church, obviously preparing for their spell as they exchanged a quick kiss before they stood back to back, grasping each other's hands.

In perfect unison, they took in a deep breath, then started the chant they had studied; their voices formed a surprisingly harmonic counterpart to each other, the Latin words they spoke in turn not making much sense to anyone who was close enough to hear them, but apparently having some effect, since a fiery glow formed around the couple not long after they had started the chant.

Apparently realizing what they were doing, the priest tried to get towards them, not able to make it past Buffy though; as she fought him off and forced him to retreat towards the altar, the Slayer had a moment to glance at the figure of a woman lying on the wood, clearly the new sacrifice, her face turned away from them and towards the wall, the priest attacking Buffy again before she could figure out if the woman was still alive or had been killed already.

Dodging the kicks and punches the enraged priest threw at her, she prayed that Pat and Willow would get done fast; as if they had heard her, they stopped chanting in turns, their voices joining each other and rising in volume – before Pat suddenly let out a shockingly loud growl, her good eye flaring up brightly red, smoke rising from her body while she grabbed the witch and spun around with her with surprising elegance, making the smaller woman stand with her back pressed against her front, their hands still clasped tightly, adjoined now in front of the witch's chest, another loud growl coming from the demon as their hands burst aflame, without hurting them the slightest.

For a moment, Buffy could see something else in the flickering fire, something so white it nearly blinded her, clearly coming from Willow's part of the spell; then, she threw herself behind one of the few still standing benches for cover, Anya and Giles following her example seconds later – just in time to keep themselves from getting burned as a stream of fire and the eerie white glow Willow had added to the flames shot from the couple's hands, hitting the priest right in the chest.

The howling scream he let out as the bright fire engulfed him and quickly spread over his whole body was a clear sign that the spell had worked and that the flames were strong enough to seriously harm him; clearly not willing to let him off so easily though, both Pat and Willow kept up the stream of fire, the priest's screams rising to a shrill crescendo – before they, to the astonishment of everyone, turned into laughter, stunning the witch and the demon enough to make them stop with the flames, the black haired woman automatically grabbing her loved one when her knees buckled and she nearly fell.

"Perfect!" the priest howled between bursts of laughter, rising his burning arms to the sky, Willow's stomach performing a few daring summersaults when she saw bits and pieces of him fall to the floor where they went on smouldering, quickly setting the carpet ablaze.

"You did just perfect, you fools!" the priest now shrieked, his eyeballs melting and running down his cheeks, something Willow mercifully was spared to see since Pat grabbed her and turned her around, away from the gruesome sight, making her hide her face against her chest with tender pressure to the back of her head; briefly, Buffy wished that she'd have someone to do the same for her, finding herself unable to look away as the fire consumed the priest further – and still he was standing, and laughing, his arms raised towards the church's ceiling.

"You martyred me!" he cried, all of the gang just able to stare at him as he finally, slowly, sank to his knees, his voice dying down to a mere whisper while he brought out his last words. "The true, perfect sacrifice…"

And with those words, he fell over face down, the flames still crackling, the horrid smell of burning flesh filling the church; he let out a final, insane burst of laughter, his body twitching on the carpet, before he died at last, the only noise now audible being the soft crackling of the flames as they kept eating away at the carpet.

"…what did he mean, the true, perfect sacrifice?" Anya finally asked what everyone else was thinking, slowly approaching the dead man, wrinkling her nose at the smell which rose from him; before anyone had the chance to reply something though, a low groan came from the altar, making everyone automatically look there, the eyes of Buffy and Xander going wide when the woman lying on it turned her head and they recognized her, their shocked gasps causing Willow to look as well, her reaction not differing much from her friends'.

With another, slightly louder groan, the woman on the altar sat up, her eyes focusing at the witch all at once; the redhead just had a moment to register the eerie red glow which was filling them – before the woman rose her hand and casually gestured at them, a bright ball of fire shooting from her fingers and rushing towards the couple the blink of an eye later.

Despite the exhaustion from the spell casting, Pat reacted quickly, forcing Willow down on the carpeted ground with her as she threw herself forward; the fireball shot past them over their heads and hit the door, setting it aflame, the woman on the altar letting out a disappointed growl as she saw that she had missed her target. To the surprise – and slight relief – of everyone, the second fireball she sent after the couple, clearly focused on them for whatever reason, seemed much smaller and weaker than the first one; clutching Willow tightly to herself, Pat gave her best to cover her as the fire hit the target this time, the flames washing over her without doing her any harm, causing the woman to let out another angered growl – before she vanished in a burst of smoke, the smell of brimstone filling the air.

"We should get out of here", Buffy brought out, sounding just as shaken up as Willow looked to Pat, making the demon wonder what was going on before she figured out that it could wait – by now, the fire from the door was spreading and smoke had started to fill the church, and she knew that the rest couldn't handle flame and smokes as well as she could. Thus, she just nodded, coming to her feet and helping Willow to stand up moments later; when the witch swayed dangerously, the taller woman unceremoniously swept her up on her arms, ignoring how drained she felt herself after the spell as she started rushing towards the church door, the rest of the gang close behind her, Xander nearly falling down the stairs as he hurried to join his friends.

Somehow, Pat managed to pull the door open without dropping Willow, once more glad about her resistance to fire and heat as the door handle was glowing by now; making sure to keep the redhead away from the flames as much as possible, the demon hurried outside, making sure to put a safe distance between the church and herself before she stopped and lowered Willow on the grass, kneeling down next to her afterwards and grasping her hand, giving her a concerned look.

"Are you okay?" she demanded to know, the only answer she received at first being a few hoarse coughs; then, the redhead nodded and carefully sat up, looking past her girlfriend as the rest of the group joined them and let themselves fall down to the grass as well.

"This is bad", Buffy finally muttered, once more reminding the demon of the fact that she had no idea what was going on; curiously, she looked at the Slayer, gesturing at the burning church as she spoke up. "Who was that in there? I have the feeling you know her."

"We do", Willow mumbled, her dismay clearly showing on her face as she glanced at the burning building as well. "She's a witch, like me… We used to be friends, a while ago, before I quit the whole magic dealer thing… Her name's Amy."


	19. Chapter 19

Even though Willow had reassured her girlfriend that she felt much better by the time they started the walk back home, Pat insisted to keep an arm around her waist, clearly still worried about how much the spell had drained her loved one; the mood was quite gloomy among the group as they walked the quiet streets in silence, all of them thinking about what had happened in the church.

"This is quite infuriating", Giles finally spoke up, making everyone else look at him; he sighed, his facial expression as dismayed as his voice sounded when he continued. "Clearly, the priest has just been using us for his plan, and we moved just the way he wanted us to."

"I don't like it to be played like that", Buffy grumbled, "but what's done is done… I just don't get it, how did killing him make the whole thing happen, without the ritual and everything?"

"He knew that we'd be coming, just as Giles said", Willow muttered in reply, still looking distraught about her former friend's fate. "He must have performed the ritual before we arrived there… and when we killed him, it was the sacrifice he'd been talking about."

"So he was the seal?" Pat demanded to know, sounding slightly confused as she rose an eyebrow at the witch. "Then what did he do with the… oh. Ew."

She grimaced at the realization of what exactly the priest had done with the blood, shaking her head to herself; next to her, Willow smiled weakly at her grossed out reaction, then focused on the Watcher again, her smile gone as she spoke up. "But why would Amy do such a thing? And why did he choose her in the first place? She's never been evil…"

"Well, taking you to a magic dealer guy when you're already on the edge of becoming addicted probably isn't considered a good deed", Xander shrugged in reply, "maybe that was evil enough to let the Devil take her over. Or maybe she volunteered, I hate to say it, but she always came across kinda power hungry."

"Speaking of power", Giles threw in before Willow could reply, "from what I saw after she'd been… possessed, she hasn't got the full strength of the Devil yet. We might be able to use that to our advantage."

"Taking in all the strength probably would have made her brain burst and leak out through her ears, or something", Anya wisely stated, causing Pat to raise an eyebrow at her choice of words, "but we should be quick then, who knows how fast she'll power up."

"So what do we do?" the demon demanded to know in reply, looking at the Slayer for an answer, "kill her?"

"That might be harder you think right now", Giles was the one to answer, making the demon's good eye focus on him again. "Even if she is not able to use the full potential of her new power yet, being possessed by the Devil might make it hard, or even impossible, to kill her. And for once, your fire won't be much help, in fact, it might even strengthen her instead of hurting her, so if we go up in battle against her, try not to use it against her."

"I was afraid you'd say that", Pat sighed out in reply, giving the Watcher a dismayed look; he shrugged, then smiled, taking off his glasses and cleaning them.

"Don't blame the messenger for the bad message", he then stated, putting his glasses back on; the demon just rolled her good eye in response, making the Watcher's smile widen slightly before he regained his composure, clearing his throat and returning to the serious topic at hand. "We can try to kill her, but we should come up with a backup plan in case it's impossible."

"How about an exorcism?" Xander suggested, shrugging when they all looked at him in surprise. "What? It's not that much of an outlandish idea, right? It works in the movies!"

"It might be worth a try", Willow added after thinking about this for a moment, "but to be honest, for now, all I want is to go home and sleep. That spell drained me."

"We should all stay together for the night", Buffy suggested in response, glad when she only saw silent agreement on her friends' faces, "just in case she decides to launch an attack at us. If she really has control over all demons and vampires of Sunnydale now…"

"All demons except me", Pat found it necessary to point out; smiling up at her, Willow nodded, then let out a hearty yawn, making it clear to everyone how much she really did need some rest, her friends speeding up their steps slightly in the process, all of them wanting to get back to Buffy's house as fast as possible.

* * *

"Am I glad to be back here", the redhead sighed out half an hour later as she let herself fall down on the bed without even bothering to take off her shoes; smirking and shaking her head, the demon sat down at the foot end of the bed and removed them for her loved one, proceeding to give her a foot rub afterwards, a content sigh escaping the witch at the tender massage.

"Tell me more about that Amy", the demon demanded after they just had enjoyed each other's company in silence for a while; in response, Willow let out a small sigh before she propped herself up on her elbows so she could look at her loved one, not minding the fact that, thanks to the foot rub, she could only see her back.

"She's a witch, like me, or was", the redhead finally started, "I don't know what she is now, with the Devil inside her… She's been a rat for several years, then I managed to undo the spell and we did spells together for a while until it all went out of control, I became addicted to the magic and had to force her out of my life."

"She's been a _rat_?" Pat echoed in reply, her disbelief making Willow giggle slightly before she nodded, quickly retelling the story about how Amy had ended up as a rat; at the part where Buffy and she nearly had been burned at the stake, the demon grimaced and shook her head, raising an eyebrow at her girlfriend afterwards.

"Somehow, I now get the feeling I should have come here much, much earlier", she then stated, making Willow giggle once more; shrugging, she pulled her feet back and sent up, shuffling over the bed until she sat next to the taller woman.

"That probably wouldn't have done any good", she stated once she had made herself comfortable, "I wasn't quite sure about my… preferences back then, in fact, I had a boyfriend."

"The werewolf", Pat smirked, making the redhead nod; she snuggled a bit closer to her loved one, giggling to herself as she remembered how Xander and Oz had fallen through the roof back then, declaring that they had come to save Buffy and her, right after the demon responsible had been finished off by the Slayer.

"My dating history really would make any psychologist hit the roof", she then stated, the smirk of the woman next to her widening slightly at her next words. "At first a werewolf, then a witch and now, a demon."

"Well, it surely is colourful", said demon had to admit, "but I hope you'll stick to that certain demon now…"

"I'm not planning anything else", the with reassured her, smiling before she stole a quick kiss from the black haired woman; afterwards, Pat got up from the bed and moved to the window, opening it so she could have a smoke without stinking up the room, knowing that neither Buffy nor Willow would like it if she'd do so. Deciding that she could wait with sleeping until her loved one had finished with the smoke, the redhead made herself comfortable against the headboard of the bed again, watching her girlfriend smoke in silence; after a while, she noticed the frown appearing on the taller woman's face, wondering what was going on while the demon squinted, obviously trying to see something outside better.

"What's going on?" she demanded to know, giving her a curious look; leaning forward slightly, the demon's frown deepened as she took another drag of her cigarette, still squinting her good eye to see better.

"I'm not sure", she finally stated, leaning forward so much that most of her upper body vanished through the window, briefly giving Willow a scare as she worried that the black haired woman might fall out, "it looks like… oh holy shit."

Quickly, the demon moved back from the window, throwing her cigarette outside before she closed it; when she turned to look at Willow, her face was alarmed, immediately making it clear to the witch that something was wrong.

"We better alarm Buffy", she stated, the redhead hurriedly getting up from her bed as she realized that this was very serious, the demon's next words making her eyes widen briefly. "Seems as if your former witch friend mobilized part of her army, there's a bunch of demons marching towards the house, and they don't look as if they're here to party."

"I really wanted to get some rest", Willow sighed out in reply, then turned and hurried out of the room, Pat close behind her, all tiredness falling off them as they fully realized the danger which was approaching them.

* * *

"She's surely acting fast", Buffy stated two minutes later, after she had been alarmed by the couple about the approaching demons; with the rest of the gang massing behind her, she peered out of the window, where the demons by now were clearly visible, their number dismaying the Slayer, but not being high enough to seriously worry her.

"She probably wants to get rid of us as long as Willow's still weakened from the spell", Giles gave back, moving to the large chest in which Buffy kept an assortment of weapons, "so we won't mess with her and keep her from gaining her full strength."

"She really takes us seriously then", Xander commented, making the Slayer nod with a slight smirk on her face before she turned towards them, her smile fading while she replied. "She does, and we'll give her just another reason to now. Giles, grab a weapon and take Dawn up into the attic, I want her out of the danger zone. Xander, Anya, you stay here with Willow and keep an eye on her, she's too drained to do any magic now and I want her out of danger, and Pat, you'll come with me – we'll kick some demon ass together."

Smirking, the demon nodded, catching the axe Buffy threw her moments later, briefly regretting that she had left the other one she was used to by now in the church; quickly, the Slayer equipped the rest of her friends as well, then sent them to the locations she had them assigned to, hurrying down the stairs moments later with Pat close behind her.

"You think we'll be able to take them out together, just you and me?" the black haired woman asked as they stepped outside, clutching their weapons; smiling maliciously, Buffy nodded, her smile widening slightly when next to her, Pat demoned out all at once, something she hardly ever did before combat unless to heal herself, a nasty glint in her good eye as she looked at the Slayer next to her.

"That might make things easier", she rumbled, grinning maliciously afterwards, making the blonde briefly feel uneasy at the sight of the unsettlingly big and sharp fangs; then, she nodded and grasped her sword tighter as the demons spotted them and started running towards them, letting out various howls and growls.

Growling in the back of her throat as well, Pat didn't waste any time with waiting for them to reach Buffy and her, but rushed forward to meet them; moments later, the Slayer followed, and it didn't take long until the fight was in full motion, none of the participants noticing the worried faces watching from various windows in the house.


	20. Chapter 20

"I wish my magic would recharge faster", Willow mumbled to herself as she watched them fight, Xander and Anya at the window left and right of her, trying to see as much as possible; despite the seriousness of the situation, Willow couldn't keep the proud smile off her face as she watched how the demoned out Pat grabbed one of the demons and threw him against the next tree hard enough to impale him on a protruding branch, the creature twitching a few times before he shuddered and died.

"You know, she's very hot when she fights", Anya commented next to the witch, causing both Xander and her to stare at her, the ex-demon shrugging in reply. "What? I was talking about the flames."

"Of course", the redhead muttered in reply, giving Anya another suspicious look before she focused on the fight outside again, gasping when she saw several demons jump Pat and bury her beneath them. To the relief of the witch, they didn't stay in that position for long though; with a growl they could hear all the way up to the first floor, Pat threw them off her as she violently sprang to her feet again, the flames around her increasing when she grabbed the demon nearest to her and broke his neck, taking the time to pick up the axe she had dropped when they had jumped her, swinging it around in a glinting arch of steel and taking off the head of another demon close to her.

Next to her, Buffy wasn't wasting any time as well, using one demon as a shield when another one stormed at her with a spear, the attacker not quick enough to stop himself from killing his companion; before the impaled demon even had fallen down, Buffy had moved in for the killing blow, her sword going all the way through the spear carrier and sending him to die on top of the one he had killed.

Yanking her sword out of the dying demon, the Slayer spun around, just in time to get the punch aimed at her right in the face; Xander, Anya and Willow gasped in perfect unison as she stumbled backwards, then quickly regained her balance and slashed at the demon, to the relief of the three watching friends seemingly unhurt. With a surprisingly long, powerful jump, Pat landed behind another one of the few demons left alive; baring her teeth at him, she swung the axe at him, a kick following when he dodged that first attack, sending him sprawling to the ground, the furry demon on top of him before he could back up and bringing the axe down, finishing the job.

Behind her, Buffy killed off the demon who had had the audacity to punch her in the face, leaving only one of their attackers standing; the demon and the Slayer exchanged a short glance, then both smirked, their smiles surprisingly alike despite the fact that one of them was rather fangy and toothy while the other one looked much more human – then they both moved in on the demon, ignoring that he clearly was scared shitless by now, the fight ending not even a minute later.

* * *

"Ha!" Pat cheered as she practically came bouncing into the bedroom where Xander, Anya and Willow where still waiting, Buffy just glancing in briefly to make sure they were okay before she moved on to the attic, eager to get Giles and Dawn.

"Did you see how we kicked their asses?" the demon beamed, all her tiredness clearly gone as she now bounced on the spot, back to her human form, ignoring that her clothes had suffered quite a bit during the fight and due to the fact that her demonic form was much bulkier than her human one.

"Ha!" she repeated, making the witch giggle at how hyper she was, "that was so much fun!"

"You do have a strange idea about fun", came Giles' dry comment from the door, making the demon look over; giving him a bright smile, she shrugged, then almost hopped over to Willow, pulling her into a surprisingly fierce embrace and kissing her deeply, making the rest clear their throat while they politely turned away, giving the couple as much privacy as possible in the by now rather crowded room.

When they finally had pulled apart again, the redhead was quite out of breath, her cheeks flushed; clearing his throat, Giles gained the attention of the group, Willow blushing even brighter for a moment as she realized that they all had seen that special moment – before she shrugged it off and told herself that there was no reason to blush, after all, Pat and she had been dating for quite some time by now and she knew that all her friends were comfortable about the relationship, no matter which doubts they had had when it had started.

"You did quite good with fighting off that assault", the Watcher stated the obvious, "but as you know, this is far from over. We should all focus now on how to stop Amy from gaining more power than she already has."

"She's clearly afraid of us", Buffy added, with a self-satisfied little smirk on her face, said smirk widening when Pat bounced on the spot again, beaming at her.

"Ha! And she better be, after how we just whipped her demons!" the black haired woman cheered, making the rest chuckle about her enthusiasm; then, her stomach growled audibly, and she stopped in mid-bounce, looking down at herself in surprise, the surprise quickly turning into embarrassment as she realized that the grumbling had been loud enough for everyone else to hear it.

"I suggest we talk about our plans during a meal", Xander suggested, making them all nod; together, they moved into the kitchen where they raided the fridge and the cupboards, soon sitting down to eat, the mood still high despite the threat which still hung in the air.

* * *

"Willow", Giles started once they all had made themselves comfortable around the dinner table, "how long do you think it will take to recharge your energies for magic?"

"A good night's sleep should be enough", the witch shrugged in reply, "the spell did drain me quite much, but Pat's help made it much easier to cast, so I should recover quickly. Do you have anything in mind?"

"A certain spell", the Watcher gave back, not really surprising anyone – even though he sometimes still expressed worry about Willow's use of magic, no matter how well the witch had herself under control by now, he relied on her magic as much as anyone else in the group when he saw no other way to handle the situation.

"It is similar to the one I used… well, against you, in the Magic Box, to freeze you up, when you were, well, evil", he went on, the witch's gaze darkening at this unpleasant memories, Pat taking a tender hold of her hand and squeezing it reassuringly as she sensed the redhead's dismay, making her look at her briefly, a small smile curling her lips as the loving gaze of her girlfriend forced those dark memories out of her mind easily. "We can use it against her, and keep her in that state of stasis until we figured out how to get the Devil out of her… or if we'll have to kill her."

"Will that be enough to hold her, with the Devil inside her?" Anya demanded to know, sounding doubtful. "It didn't hold Willow for long…"

"It's worth a try", Buffy threw in before anyone else could say something, "and it'd be better than just killing her, no matter what she messed up in the past – she's still human."

"Technically, she's just a human shell now, with the Devil having taken her over", Pat pointed out, shrugging when Buffy threw her a dark look, Anya nodding her agreement to the demon's words, surprising everyone else – just like Willow and Anya, Pat and Anya hardly ever agreed on something.

"We'll try to solve this without killing her first", the Slayer stated, her tone of voice making it clear that she wouldn't accept any discussions about this. "The spell Giles mentioned will win us some time, and if we can't figure out how to get the Devil out of her, well… We'll have to kill her. But that will be our last resort."

"Okay", the rest agreed, to the blonde's relief without any discussion; after another rather hearty bite from her meal, big enough to make Willow worry that she might choke, Pat spoke up once she had gulped it down, her gaze focused on the Slayer opposite of her. "So, we'll go that church, Willow will perform her mojo and put her in stasis, or whatever it was called, and then what? We'll try that exorcism?"

"It's indeed worth a try", Giles was the one to reply, Xander's chest swelling with pride since he had been the one who had suggested the exorcism in the first place, ignoring the fact that it had been a half-hearted and not all too funny joke.

"Of course, to do it, we'd have to get her out of the church, seeing it is her centre of power", the Watcher now added, rising an eyebrow when in response, Pat rolled her eye. "Oh yeah, that'll be an easy thing to do, we'll just stroll in there, put the spell on her and wander back out. I'm sure her army of demons and vampires will just watch us do that in peace."

"No vampires during the day", Buffy shrugged, "and the demons we'll be able to handle, if we do this right. We'll just have to

_(hear my call)_

make sure that the element of surprise is on our side, and…

_(HEAR my CALL)_

Willow, are you okay?"

Worried, Buffy looked at the witch, tearing her out of her thoughts; flinching, she appeared distracted for a moment, then nodded, giving her best friend a smile which was just a bit too toothy to be convincing.

"Are you sure?" Xander demanded to know, sounding just as concerned as Buffy had, "you were zoned out

_(come to me)_

for a moment there."

"I'm fine", Willow reassured her childhood friend, wondering if anyone else had heard that – before she noticed how sweaty Pat's hand had become and glanced at her girlfriend, now feeling concerned as well as she saw that the demon was staring straight ahead, apparently just as zoned out as she had been a minute ago.

"Pat's weird, too", Anya made her realize that she hadn't been the only one to notice this, "look at her, she's all staring-into-space-y."

All at once, Giles removed his glasses, looking alarmed; he started to rise from his chair, but before he even had gotten up fully, Willow's eyes suddenly widened as a blinding bolt of pain rushed through her brain, a strangled cry escaping her; next to her, Pat jerked upright in her seat as if she had been electrocuted, letting out a breathless groan.

"What's going on?" Buffy demanded to know, rising from her seat as well, only to involuntarily take a step back when the demon's eye started to glow brightly red, the Slayer's breath getting caught in her throat as simultaneously, that well-known, deeply feared darkness entered Willow's eyes again.

Together, the couple got up from their chairs, the rest only able to stare in shock how they turned and started to move towards the door without a word; Buffy was the first one to snap out of her paralysis, and she hurried after them, reaching out to grasp the witch's shoulder while she called out her name.

The moment her fingers touched the redhead's shirt, her head whipped around, a snarl turning her face into a monstrous grimace; she flicked her fingers at Buffy, and the blonde got thrown backwards, against the dinner table, groaning in pain when the back of her head connected harshly with the table's edge. Briefly, Willow smiled at her, the demon beside her smirking maliciously as well – before they made their way out the front door and walked off, the rest just staring after them in shocked silence, none of them able to comprehend what just had happened.

* * *

"The connection", Giles finally was the first one to speak, running a trembling hand through his hair while Xander and Dawn were fussing over Buffy, making sure she hadn't hurt herself, all three looking up at him when he spoke on. "The connection the priest had to both Willow and Pat, it must still be active, now used by Amy… And she must have used her powers to… to awake their dark sides…"

"So, to put this into simpler words", Xander gave back, "Amy's possessed by the Devil now, and she's made Willow and Pat go evil."

"Yes, afraid so", Giles sighed in reply, silence filling the room again afterwards – before Buffy spoke up, summing the situation up perfectly, using some rather saucy language no one ever had expected from her. "Long story short – we're fucked."

End of _Darkness Falls Part I_

Author's Note: Yes I know, I'm evil... I promise I won't wait too long with posting the sequel though. ;)


End file.
